With snowfall and frigid temperatures making outside conditions inhospitable, the Chatt Foundation's winter homeless shelter provided a warm place to sleep for 105 people Monday night.
CEO Baron King said the organization has seen the number of people using the shelter steadily grow since Oct. 31, rising from a low of 32. Located in the organization's offices at 727 E. 11th St., the shelter has the capacity for about 160 people.
(READ MORE: Chatt Foundation will reopen 10-bed respite center for homeless patients)
"We've seen a correlation between the severity of the weather and the number of people that take advantage of the shelter," King said in a phone interview.
The shelter normally opens around 6:30 p.m. on freezing nights and closes at 6 a.m., King said, but staff have been opening it about an hour earlier in recent days because of the weather.
The organization has sheltered 141 people from October through most of December, according to numbers the Chatt Foundation released the day after Christmas, with the majority of them, 106, being men or boys. That total included 77 white, 54 Black and three Hispanic clients.
Typically, the Chatt Foundation's winter shelter has a clientele consisting of 75% men and 25% women. On Monday night, for instance, the organization served 76 men and 29 women. It's rare the shelter sees families, who may have an easier time obtaining aid from friends or relatives than people living on their own, King said.
The organization typically has two employees on duty at the shelter and an additional security officer onsite.
The number of people using the shelter has gradually crept up throughout the winter, King said, going from the high 50s to the low 70s around the end of December and early January. The shelter has been open more nights than not since late December, King said, and is now steadily seeing numbers reach the mid- to upper-80s.
The Chatt Foundation sends out text alerts when the shelter will be open, and understanding that many homeless people don't have access to the internet, the organization has been including basic forecast information in those messages, King said.
"If they're making a life or death decision on whether to attend, we want them to have as much information as possible," King said.
The longer the winter goes on, King said, it's possible people grow wearier of staying out in the cold, which may contribute to the uptick in people using the shelter. After 20 or 30 freezing nights outside, a warm shelter becomes more inviting.
Ultimately, people have to determine whether the risk posed by the cold outweighs the risk of having their tent and possessions stolen if they leave them outside unattended, he said.
"That's the decision that a lot of people have to unfortunately struggle with," King said.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga service remembers 110 homeless, formerly homeless people who died in 2023)
Other numbers
The Chatt Foundation provides food, clothing, laundry and employment assistance to the city's homeless population. Alongside the county's homeless health care center, which has an office across the road from the Chatt Foundation, it's a key service provider along East 11th Street.
The homeless health care center assisted 3,992 patients between Jan. 1, 2023, and Nov. 30, a slight decrease over the 4,031 people served over the same period the previous year, according to a monthly data report released by Hamilton County government.
The county also tallies the number of "street patients," those who sleep in places not meant for human habitation like abandoned buildings, cars, sidewalks, etc. That number increased from 1,499 between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2022, to 1,558 for the same period in 2023, according to the county.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.