{"id":2450549,"date":"2019-10-31T01:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T07:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/officials-concerned-about-homeless-amid-frigid-temps\/"},"modified":"2019-10-31T01:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T07:12:00","slug":"officials-concerned-about-homeless-amid-frigid-temps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/officials-concerned-about-homeless-amid-frigid-temps\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials concerned about homeless amid frigid temps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With Aspen\u2019s homeless shelter not open for another month and temperatures expected to hit record lows, local officials were concerned Wednesday about the area\u2019s homeless population.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Tuesday and Wednesday) it was my first thought,\u201d said Nan Sundeen, Pitkin County\u2019s director of Health and Human Services. \u201c\u2018How can we help? What can we do? This is not safe.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, according to local officials who assist the local homeless population, there wasn\u2019t much that could be done until the shelter, located at St. Mary Catholic Church on Main Street in Aspen, opens Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of our dilemmas because we have limited resources,\u201d said Vince Savage, Aspen Homeless Shelter director. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a problem (when early-season cold snaps occur).\u201d<\/p>\n

Temperatures on Wednesday night were expected to drop to between minus-2 degrees and minus-7 degrees depending on the forecast. However, temperatures are expected to rise back into the 40s by Thursday.<\/p>\n

Both Savage and Aspen police Officer Braulio Jerez, the department\u2019s human services officer, said they\u2019d spoken to clients Wednesday at the Day Shelter, located at the Health and Human Services building across from Aspen Valley Hospital, and none complained about the cold or the upcoming frigid night.<\/p>\n

Savage said he suggested \u201ccreative solutions\u201d such as couch surfing at a friend\u2019s house, riding the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority buses or simply \u201cjumping up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome are just going to bundle up,\u201d Savage said.<\/p>\n

Sundeen agreed, saying some people don\u2019t need assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody needs a solution,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people are OK and comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Sundeen said Wednesday she was trying to find emergency funds that could be used to buy hotel rooms for those who need to get out of the cold.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is nobody freezes outside,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Late Wednesday afternoon, Savage said an Aspen hotel had agreed to house up to seven people \u2014 he didn\u2019t think that many would need help \u2014 for Wednesday night only.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good people of Aspen stepped in to help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jerez said Aspen police officials sent an email to all night shift officers to be on the lookout for members of the homeless population who might need help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis population is going to be out in the elements,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing I would wish on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Mary Catholic Church officials volunteer the space for the winter homeless shelter from December to March. Savage said he\u2019s asked Pitkin County commissioners to designate the old Aspen Ambulance District building near Aspen Valley Hospital as a permanent, year-round shelter.<\/p>\n

That idea will be discussed at an upcoming county board meeting.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Aspen\u2019s homeless shelter not open for another month and temperatures expected to hit record lows, local officials were concerned Wednesday about the area\u2019s homeless population. \u201c(Tuesday and Wednesday) it was my first thought,\u201d said Nan Sundeen, Pitkin County\u2019s director of Health and Human Services. \u201c\u2018How can we help? What can we do? This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 10:40:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}