PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - With overnight low temperatures forecasted in the Portland Metro area, there's concern for the houseless community and what shelters will be available to them.
On Wednesday night, some members of Portland's homeless community lined up in hopes of getting a bed inside the Multnomah County Severe Weather Shelter on Northwest Hoyt Street and 14th Avenue. It is where most of those folks had stayed the night prior and some of them were even transported by two good samaritans who rented a van to get them to a warm spot for the night.
"We just kept going all night, got dozens of people here," the pair said.
However, on Wednesday night, the 35-degree forecast didn't meet the county's threshold for the shelter to open, leaving people on the sidewalk with the nearest open shelter miles away. Across the street, a man was heard screaming and crying for help.
The two community members who have dedicated their nights to helping people in need stopped to help the man by calling 211, in hopes of getting him transported to an open shelter.
"2-1-1 took a very long time to get through the dispatching process," the community members said.
They were told a Lyft driver was on the way to transport the man to a shelter, but when the driver got there, he refused.
"We contacted him and told him 'Your customer is right there, they're on the sidewalk.' The driver said 'Why is he on the sidewalk?' We said, 'He's a homeless man.' The driver said 'No, no way.' He didn't even try to make contact," the pair said.
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After the driver refused to transport the man in need, the two community members called 211 again. After 25 minutes on hold, they were told another Lyft was on the way.
"When the driver pulled up, he [the man in need] was yelling that he needed help. The driver said 'No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to pick him up.'" the pair recalled. "Lyft drivers don't know what they're getting into. We've seen many drivers refuse to pick people up and this is Multnomah County's shelter transportation plan. Send random people to come pick up homeless people who are desperately in need, and it's not working."
After hours of failed attempts to get the man to shelter, eventually, he had gotten so cold that he couldn't move, forcing the two community members to call for an ambulance.
While plenty of shelters were open across Multnomah County, with even some beds added for the temperatures, access to those shelters proved to be a struggle.
So, why were the county-run emergency weather shelters closed while temperatures tipped into 30-degree weather?
Well, the county has different requirements the forecast has to hit for the shelters to open. Those conditions must persist for four hours or more overnight. The temperature has to be 25 degrees or below, or the temperature has to be at or below 2 degrees with one inch of rain with sustained winds greater than 10 MPH, or there needs to be a forecasted snow accumulation of one inch or more.
Director of Emergency Management for Multnomah County, Chris Voss, said despite not hitting any of those requirements, the county decided to open on Tuesday due to the potential for snow, as well as another factor.
"When we started looking at the other factors, including when we started hearing about some additional calls for EMS for cold, that was really a determining factor saying 'Okay, you know what, maybe we didn't meet these three thresholds but we're really close and now we have this other factor that we can't ignore,'" Voss said.
However, the community advocates argue it shouldn't take people getting to the point where they need to go to the hospital, for the county to open shelters. That is why they believe the threshold needs to change.
The community advocates asked why the threshold seems so limited, explaining that 32 degrees with one inch of rain, will likely feel the same as 34 degrees with rain showers.
FOX 12 brought that question to the county.
"For us, the thresholds are accompanied by all of these other factors we look at. I really appreciate the fact that we've been able to sort of incorporate all this data to make what we think is an informed decision to be there for the highest-risk days," Voss said.
Still, the community members feel differently as to how it's determined if shelters can open for our most vulnerable communities.
"Step outside. Come out of your office and stop doing Zoom calls about it. Stop crunching the numbers you get from the emergency department because those numbers depend on people out here to call for people. We see people suffering every night. There are hundreds downtown who are in need of this shelter. 102 people stayed here on the night it was open with short notice and they would any other night," the community members said.
Overnight temperatures are expected to continue dropping. It's unclear if county shelters will be open on those days.