Of the roughly 1,000 beds available across a network of shelters for unhoused Utahns, about 100 were unoccupied on average.
A tent in front of a closed furniture store on Salt Lake City's State Street, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022.Persistent snowfall and frigid temperatures have caused a spike in demand for shelter space in the Salt Lake Valley, but state and local leaders say the region has offered enough beds to keep residents off the streets if they’d rather be indoors.
“If there’s a big surge, there’s going to be a struggle in meeting all that demand,” state homelessness czar Wayne Niederhauser said. “But so far, we’ve not had any night where we’ve had more demand than supply.” The area behind Rio Grande Depot, 500 W. 300 South, where Utahns experiencing homelessness live in makeshift tents and shelters, Dec. 16, 2022.
This week, amid relentless snowstorms, homeless resource centers began operating their winter overflow beds around the clock instead of strictly overnight.
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