For Minnesotans experiencing homelessness, this time of Thanksgiving, with winter approaching, can be a mean season.  

“I’ve stayed out,” says Courtney Reid. “I’ve actually lived in a tent in snow before, and it’s nothing nice.”

She’s not alone.

Ramsey County records show between 2018 and 2023, unsheltered homelessness increased by 185%.

The 2023 point-in-time count – which collects homelessness statistics on a specific night – found 368 unsheltered people, the largest number ever recorded.

The county says throughout 2023, there’s been an average of over forty families on the shelter waitlist.

Last winter, records show, county warming shelters regularly hosted more than 120 adults, youth, and families every night.

And the cold weather is coming.

“It’s so unpredictable. Like from last night to today, the temperature has dropped twenty degrees,” says Keith Kozerski, Chief Program Officer for Catholic Charities Twin Cities. “Even at thirty, forty, fifty degrees, being outside at night, who knows what you’re sleeping in or what your clothes situation is, it’s still not safe.”  

Ramsey County officials, recalling last winter’s brutal weather, are opening two overnight warming spaces that will operate from 6:00 PM until 9:00 AM.

The first one opened Wednesday at the St. Paul Opportunity Center, on the Dorothy Day Place campus.

A second warming space will open December 4^th, at Central Baptist Church, on North Roy Street.

It will be for the use of families and youth, aged 14 to 24.

Both spaces are opening weeks ahead of normal, because of cold weather concerns. .

“We saw a number of encampments where people were heating themselves with propane tanks,” explains Keith Lattimore, the Director of Housing Stability for Ramsey County. “We wanted to have the three coldest months of winter covered, so it was every night that people had the opportunity to come inside.”

Authorities say the two warming centers will remain open through the end of next March.

Funding from the county is helping the centers to stay open all night.

“The warming center refers to the overnight drop-in space,” Kozerski notes. “People can come and go as they need to, whatever works for them, whatever’s going to keep them safe during the winter.”

Before now, the center closed at 6:00 PM.

There are no sleeping quarters, but coordinators expect on average for about one hundred people to stay for shorter or longer periods at the Opportunity Center warming space.

The spaces will provide seating, blankets, light snacks, and beverages, like coffee and cocoa—- and warming supplies, such as mittens and hats.

“We have people that may show up for ten minutes to warm up, and we might have people who might stay the entire night into the morning,” Lattimore explains. “At that point, we try to transport them to our partner shelters where they can get breakfast and other things they need.”

He says on Wednesday, the first night of the warming space program, 138 people showed up.

By the second night, 183 individuals stopped by.

We sat down with David, 75 years old, who has been without shelter for about a month.

He agreed it was good to not be on the street— and not struggle to find a place to stay.

“Yes, there is no better feeling,” he smiled. “It’s salvation, and it takes me back to the belief I had as a child about the inherent goodness of people.”  

The county will also provide van transportation loops for adults, families, and youth to warming spaces, Listening House, Safe Space, and Regions Hospital.

“It’s sort of a loop where we can pick folks up in one place and bring them to a warming space if that place is full to capacity,” Lattimore says.

He adds the shuttles transported about 10,500 people last year— and expects at least that many riders this year.

On the floors above the Opportunity Center, there are 177 units of housing for those at risk of becoming homeless, or those transitioning out of homelessness.

Just across the street, Catholic Charities also operates Higher Ground St. Paul, which offers more than 400 people experiencing homelessness, permanent homes, dignified shelter, and pathways for opportunities.

Kozerski says people at the Opportunity Center now have a shelter option, if a bed opens up.  

“It allows people to get off the street,” he notes. “If people don’t show up for their shelter reservations, whether with us or anywhere in Ramsey County, we’ve been able to pair people from the warming center into those open shelter beds.”

Reid— now with an apartment above the center— says these services provide safety and hope.

“You don’t have to worry about being out in the cold, you don’t have to worry about having a place to be, or moving your stuff around, or lugging everything around,” she declares. “All kinds of different places that come together to help each other out— and that’s what makes it beautiful.”

CLICK HERE for additional information on warming spaces in Ramsey County.