Utah County's warming centers will see significant changes for the upcoming winter, but the county plans to expand resources to help people exit homelessness.
PROVO — The Utah County winter response task force has unveiled its plans to address homelessness ahead of the upcoming winter season.Unsheltered individuals will once again have the opportunity to seek a warm place to sleep during the cold winter nights, but the county's 2025-2026 winter response plan will look much different compared to the previous winter.
Instead of three rotating warming center facilities, services will be provided at one central location — the red building, located at 2855 S. State Street, near the border of Provo and Springville, according to a Utah County Government press release.Prior to the new plan, services were also being offered at two different churches in Provo, in addition to the red building.Utah County Commissioner Brandon Gordon, who also serves as chairman of the winter response task force, announced the plan on Thursday during a ceremony, where he was awarded for the county's efforts to combat homelessness.Gordon told KSL.com on Tuesday that partnering service providers preferred the red building location due to its close proximity to transit and that having one location may eliminate confusion among patrons about which nights each center is open."It was eye-opening for me to have them say ... 'Hey, we really like the red building.' And so then we floated the idea well, do you want to just have one location? And then that may be easier for people," he said.Between Oct. 15 and April 30, around 600 unsheltered individuals turned to Utah County's warming centers for shelter for the 2024-2025 winter season, homeless service providers told KSL.com in April.That duration has been scaled back for the upcoming winter, with services being provided from Nov. 17 this year until March 3, 2026, though Gordon says the state hasn't "given its stamp of approval" regarding that factor yet."But that was one lesson we learned last year was we didn't have any of the code blue temperatures during the time frame outside of what we're doing this year, and haven't had any for the last five years," he said.Gordon went on to say that shortening the length of time services are provided this winter allows the county to staff the center during the months when the weather has the potential to reach dangerously cold levels."We want to make sure that we're available at least through the real harsh winter months, end of November, December January," he said.Additionally, to comply with the new state la
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