KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Frigid winter temperatures are expected to usher many men, women and families experiencing homelessness to warming centers in the city.
Kansas City, Missouri, activates its Extreme Weather Plan when the daytime high is less than 32 degrees and the overnight low is less than 20 degrees.
That means city staff and outreach teams will make sure community members have warm shelter if they want it.
According to the online database, all of the shelters, excluding six beds meant for the LGBTQ community, were at capacity Wednesday night.
A city spokesperson confirmed one overflow shelter has been opened, and clients are referred to the overflow facility by the full shelters.
Dr. Terry Megli prepared 150 beds at City Union Mission, and each is filled Wednesday night.
“This is life-threatening weather, this can’t be any other night,” said Megli, City Union Mission CEO. “I love to make sure people are taken care of and warm.”
He says the homeless simply shouldn’t have to survive outside in the winter.
“It’s going to be miserable tonight and tomorrow,” said William Smith, who is experiencing homelessness. “It’s miserable when you get frostbite like that. You got to go to the doctor, feet turn black, hands sometimes they might have to amputate."
However, efforts to stay warm cause more than physical duress.
“They’re trying to find tarps, anything to keep warm. A form of fear, a form of anxiety,” said Anton Washington with Unhoused Task Force.
Washington was working to secure shelter for those who needed it Wednesday night.
“They will either freeze over, get frostbite or get hypothermia. We will end up finding a dead body like we did at 2021,” he said.
Just last week, 28-year-old Elizabeth Lindsey died in a fire under Interstate 70 while trying to keep warm. Jaynell Assmann with Care Beyond the Boulevard knew her well.
“The propane tank exploded, she was using it to get heat, to get warm,” she said.
Assmann said Lindsey was a volunteer, a recent graduate and worked at Subway.
“She was in school to be a certified nursing assistant,” she said. “When you’re trying to get warm, you’ll do whatever you can. We see this frequently — fires, tanks exploding.”
The Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department says it’s a real problem. Just this winter, the department has responded to three homeless encampment fires, 34 abandoned house fires and five abandoned business fires.
“If you start working proactively instead of reactively, hopefully those will decrease,” Assmann said.
The city has coordinated donations across all outreach groups.
Anyone interested in donating can drop cold weather gear off at City Union Mission located at 1700 E. 8th St.
