SALT LAKE CITY — Despite the warmth of her dog, Bella, and the fur that lines the inside of her pale pink coat, Cosett Sudbury is feeling the sting of the early afternoon cold on a recent winter day in Salt Lake City.
The 54-year-old has spent the last five years or so living on the streets. And while she said she usually camps outside in the summer, she’s been seeking out shelter this winter as temperatures dip.
"It's just too cold," she said in an interview with FOX 13 News. “I’m getting too old.”
But Sudbury worries about those who may not be able to get inside, like she has. And she wants to see changes to a state law that requires Utah’s most populous counties to open additional shelter space for people experiencing homelessness only when temperatures are well below freezing.
The 18-degree threshold is “too cold,” she argued, noting that it’s “not that low” in other nearby states.
“That’s why I’m wondering why it’s that way in Utah,” she continued. “Who made it that way? The government?”
The Utah Legislature created the “Code Blue” designation in 2023, initially setting the threshold at 15 degrees. State lawmakers then raised the temperature earlier this year, which allowed shelters to relax and expand their occupancy requirements when temperatures in an area are expected to drop to 18 degrees or below for two or more hours during a 24-hour period.
But Wendy Garvin, the executive director of Unsheltered Utah, is now advocating for lawmakers to increase the temperature again – this time to at least 25 degrees.
“My thought is that anything under the freezing threshold is dangerous for people to be outside,” she said, her breath visible as she spoke with FOX 13 News on a day that exceeded that temperature. “And we prove that every year with the number of people that we lose fingers to frostbite and limbs. And it’s such a preventable problem.”
A FOX 13 Investigates review of nearby states’ winter temperature thresholds shows Utah has one of the lowest. A warming center in Twin Falls, Idaho, for example, opens when temperatures dip below 34 degrees, while additional shelter beds become available at 25 degrees in Denver, Colorado.
Garvin believes the decision to set the bar at 18 degrees here in Utah was a product of politics, with counties worried that a higher threshold would keep Code Blue in effect for most of the winter – and cost them more money.
But she believes a higher Code Blue temperature would benefit not only those living on the streets but also those in communities affected by street encampments.
“I feel like the overarching community appetite is for more shelter and more protection,” she said. “And to talk about the consequences of that, not only are we helping people who are in dire need and at dire risk, we are also getting those folks off the streets. And that is what the community has consistently been asking for, for years now.”
Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, ran the previous Code Blue bills and said he’s weighing whether to raise the threshold again during the upcoming state legislative session.
But he ultimately believes the focus should be on creating permanent winter shelter solutions – and long-term housing for people experiencing homelessness – rather than on improving "stopgap” measures like Code Blue.
While he said there may be a need to “temporarily” adjust Code Blue temperatures “until there are sufficient facilities,” Eliason sees Code Blue as "a bridge until we get to a larger facility that can accommodate everyone who needs temporary shelter.”
"We think the least humane thing to do is have people sleep in our streets in an unsheltered manner,” he added. “And so at a bare minimum we want to make sure there’s sufficient emergency shelter.”
The state is currently exploring locations to build a 1,200-bed shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
And while advocates have focused their attention on state lawmakers to raise the threshold for Code Blue, Eliason noted that individual counties can opt to increase their own temperatures for opening additional beds at any time.
“The state doesn’t have to micromanage everything,” he said. “We have local officials. And if they realize that on the ground in their county that they need to raise that because there’s an increase in street camping or individuals getting frostbite, they have every right to do that.”
As advocates wait to see how county and state leaders will respond, Garvin said her group plans to open its doors when needed – regardless of whether temperatures drop to 18 degrees or below.
“If we feel like the weather conditions are dangerous and they don’t meet the state’s criteria, we’re going to open anyway,” she said. “And we’re just going to ask the community to step up and support us with donations so we can do the right thing while we try and get the policies changed.”