Opinion: Davis County residents, we need to talk about warming shelters

I’ve recently followed the media coverage by various outlets of the effort to find a suitable place for a Code Blue shelter in Davis County. My interest began when I saw coverage by local TV stations earlier this month of the meeting in which a crowd cheered at a Fruit Heights pastor’s withdrawal of his church’s offer to host a warming shelter and continued as Kaysville’s mayor has also vowed to keep the shelter out of her city. I’ve noticed some unhelpful and ugly rhetoric, with residents suggesting that those patronizing shelters are uninterested in help, do drugs and commit other crimes; that a warming shelter would make their neighborhoods unsafe and decrease their property values; and offering sentiments that while a shelter is needed, it should be located anywhere except near them.
While I make my home on the west side of Salt Lake City, I work in Davis County and thus spend significant time in the community. I’ve had the pleasure of working with fantastic, open-minded, generous people who see helping others as not just a good thing to do, but as a part of their religious duty. And while my particular faith tradition would make me an outlier in Davis County, I share the belief that it is my responsibility to take action to better the lives of those less fortunate. Having volunteered in Salt Lake City’s Code Blue shelters last year, I was surprised to see opposition to warming shelters, especially when a space had already been offered for such a facility.
I’d like to address a few points of common concern related to this issue:
While this is certainly the primary audience, a warming shelter is for anyone who lacks safe, warm, permanent shelter on a cold night. People in other unstable or unsafe housing situations can also benefit.
At the time of writing, all adult shelters in Salt Lake and Weber Counties are at capacity, leaving only family and youth shelters with space available. Regardless, a homeless person who does not want help is unlikely to seek help at a warming shelter, making this a non-issue for neighbors.
Yes, this is often true; substance abuse is far more prevalent among those experiencing homelessness than the general population. However, correlation does not equal causation, and some people experience homelessness as a result of their addiction while others use drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with the homelessness they are already experiencing. In any case, I think it’s worth having some compassion here: I might also use drugs if I had no shelter.
Those experiencing homelessness are far more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than a perpetrator. Most crimes committed by those without homes are non-violent in nature, and many of the violent crimes committed by those who lack shelter are against people experiencing the same circumstance.
While I have had concerns for the safety of clients at the Code Blue shelter in which I volunteer, I have not felt unsafe myself. In any event, a warming shelter is only open during the coldest nights of the year, so a warming shelter is unlikely to have a lasting impact on public safety.
Utah’s 2024 point-in-time count recorded 65 Davis county residents without homes. While some of these people likely had shelter, some probably did not and would have appreciated a warm place to sleep.
More than half of Americans are only one crisis away from homelessness, and a 1994 study noted that 14% of the U.S. population had experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Based on these facts, I think it’s safe to conclude that homelessness could happen to any of us.
I hope these facts can help to put residents at ease, and that those in need in Davis County will soon be welcomed to a warming shelter.