When temperatures plunge, charities worry most about risks to homeless

(OSV News) -- As temperatures across the country plunge as far as 80% below normal -- accompanied in many regions by punishing blizzards -- there are the usual concerns: chapped lips and cold hands, dangerous driving conditions and school cancellations, stores sold out of snow shovels and de-icer.

But what if the low temperatures and falling flakes were not just an annoyance -- but a threat, because home is the street?

For at least one Houston resident -- presumed unhoused, and found dead at a bus stop the morning of Jan. 6 -- the weather was fatal. Another death thought to be from hypothermia was recorded Jan. 8 in Pensacola, Florida, where a homeless man was discovered lifeless near a soup kitchen.

The deaths were among at least seven reported during a major winter storm that began Jan. 4 and brought heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures to the Midwest and East Coast over several days. That storm is expected to be followed by a new storm, with snow and freezing temperatures anticipated in 13 Southern states over the Jan. 11-12 weekend.

When outdoor conditions turn brutal, the difference between life and death can be the work of Catholic agencies and organizations serving an estimated 653,104 homeless Americans -- a number that marked a record high in 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

According to the Homeless Death Count -- a website documenting U.S. homeless deaths -- at least 20 unhoused people die nationwide every day.

"This is such a shock," said Greg Lueb of the cold. As director of operations for Houston's Magnificat Houses, which were founded in 1968 by social worker Rose Mary Badami, he helps to operate residential homes for men and women, an emergency women's shelter, a large downtown soup kitchen and other programs.

"It was a 30, 40-degree drop," he said of the temperatures.

Hypothermia usually occurs in very cold temperatures, but even cool temperatures -- above 40 F (or 4 C) -- can be dangerous if someone is chilled from rain or sweat.

"When you're wet and cold, I can give you a gallon of coffee," Lueb said, "and it's not gonna help you."

Such harsh realities require lots of blankets, ponchos, socks and more.

"People started calling -- around Christmas time, after Christmas -- wanting to bring blankets in January and February," recalled Lueb. He told them the time was now. "I had already seen this forecast, and felt pretty sure it was going to hit."

There is a constant stream of clients, Lueb said, whatever the weather.

"We see 220, 240 people a day at the soup kitchen," he said. "It's sit-down dining … a lot of them are sitting down to warm up. But the meal count is closer to 350, to 360, a day, because we allow seconds."

Sister Connie Ladd -- a member of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary on staff at The Joseph House in Salisbury, Maryland -- told OSV News extreme temperatures can be even more dangerous for those they serve struggling with addictions.

"They fall asleep in the snow and lose their toes," explained Sister Connie. "There was a person who was alcoholic, and they refused to come out of the cold -- and they froze to death. So serious things can happen."

The Joseph House provides financial assistance for housing, utilities and other necessities. The organization also runs a food pantry and soup kitchen, a day shelter for homeless men and women, and a long-term residential program for homeless men.

"There are a lot of homeless people in our city and other cities," said Sister Connie. "And I think that we could be doing better. If more people were sensitive to this, we could put our heads together and find more low-income housing. That's a real scarcity around here."

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, or NLIHC, the U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters.

In 2021, NLIHC released a report concluding there is no state, county or city in America where a full-time, minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford a two-bedroom rental.

"Affordable housing is a big issue, and there are just not enough homes and rental units for people based on their current resources," said Katie Baxter, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties in Flint, Michigan, which operates meal and housing programs among its many services. "Rents have gone up very high, and individuals cannot afford that."

To the unhoused, Detroit's abandoned homes, factories and churches can appear as a refuge.

"We try to work with everybody to make sure nobody's out in the cold," shared Baxter. "There are some people who choose to live in abandoned houses -- and they're at great risk because the temperature is such that human beings can't exist in that kind of weather. We try to let people know, we're open to come and get the help you need."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' current advocacy position declares, "Decent, safe, and affordable housing is a human right. ... Communities and the government have an obligation to ensure the housing needs of all are met, especially poor and vulnerable people and their families.

"In a time of rising homelessness and when many workers' wages are stagnant and living expenses are rising," the USCCB statement continues, "it is important to ensure housing security."

Pope Francis has stressed the same, noting in his 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si'," "Lack of housing is a grave problem in many parts of the world, both in rural areas and in large cities."

But a lack of affordable housing is not the only challenge. The criminalization of homelessness has further complicated the lives of the unhoused and those who help them.

"This is going to be a major health event for our folks that are on the street," said Ginny Ramsey, director of the Catholic Action Center in Lexington, Kentucky, which serves three meals a day and also offers shower and restroom facilities, mail receipt, a telephone, clean clothing and connections with social service agencies.

Arrangements with local motels help to house people during the worst weather.

"Because of our new House Bill 5 in Kentucky, a lot of our folks have gone deeper and deeper into where they camp," Ramsey said. "It's illegal if they're caught sleeping outside. So they've been cited; they've been arrested. Now they're in the backwoods."

House Bill 5 -- the "Safer Kentucky Act," passed in March 2024 -- bans "unlawful camping." People sleeping in spaces not designated for camping face fines and imprisonment. The new law also requires local governments to enforce it, or face sanctions from Kentucky's attorney general.

Catholic Action Center responded by draping itself with a bright green, bold-lettered, hash-tagged banner declaring, "Ain't no crime to be homeless."

Lexington is not, Ramsey explained, "the norm of Kentucky. We're the bluegrass part. We're the wealthy part. We've got our bourbon trails. We've got our thoroughbreds; we've got our (University of) Kentucky basketball.

"But we also have abject poverty that people don't like to see," she continued. "Thirty percent of those experiencing homelessness are experiencing addiction or mental illness. Seventy percent are just plain poor."

The center's "Compassionate Caravan" -- a bright yellow, volunteer-staffed van delivering supplies and sandwiches to the unsheltered -- scours the city if the weather is life-threatening.

"When the Compassionate Caravan pulls up, people come to it, knowing they can get hand warmers, feet warmers -- anything that we have that can help them stay safe," Ramsey said.

But sometimes it is still not enough: If temperatures are exceptionally dangerous, only shelter will do.

"The problem with this cold front," Ramsey said, "is it doesn't matter what supplies you have."