SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's biggest counties have a little over a month left to scramble to secure the beds and services to help those experiencing homelessness before it gets too cold.
"What we're proposing today is to fund what we know can happen," said Wayne Niederhauser, the state homeless coordinator.
The Utah Homeless Services Board met virtually Wednesday to vote on the funding for Salt Lake, Utah, Washington, Davis, and Weber counties' Winter Response Plan.
Leaders with each county spend the year coming up with an individualized response plan and requested funding.
"There have been over fifty meetings for this winter response planning with those groups," said Tricia Davis, director of the Utah Office of Homeless Services. "That includes a lot of mayors' time, a lot of county staff time, and a lot of our time."
The Office of Homeless Services originally budgeted almost $3 million for the five counties for the 2024-2025 winter. After reviewing the submitted plans, the amount the OHS recommends to fund raised to over $5.8 million.
Salt Lake County's recommended funding is significantly higher than all the rest at $5,062,182. The other counties rest between $100,000 - $325,000.
"What we are presenting to you today is what we know at this moment in time," said Davis.
Of all the plans, Davis County wants to try something new.
Officials there want to purchase a 'Dignity Bus' from the organization, The Source (link: https://www.iamthesource.org/dignity-bus/). The bus would drive around the county and pick up people and their pets during a Cold Blue event, which is when it's 18 degrees or lower.
The bus includes twenty sleeping pods, bathrooms, personal lockers, luggage storage, and pet pods.
"Right now, it's still up in the air whether this is going to be a bus, whether it's going to be a senior center, whether it's going to be some other facility in Davis County," explained Niederhauser.
The board unanimously approved the funding for the counties' compliant portions of the plans. Salt Lake, Weber, and Davis counties still have areas of noncompliance which the OHS must help them meet.
"That's a discussion that's going to be had with some intensity over the next week or two," said Niederhauser.
The next Utah Homeless Services Board meeting is Oct. 9.
