Eureka’s Battle to Prevent Tragedy in the Face of 10 Deaths During Last Year’s Harsh Winter

In early December, a rain-soaked makeshift shelter at the corner of 1st and A Street in Old Town Eureka illustrates the need for low barrier shelter spaces during inclement weather. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

“We are calling all volunteers who would like to help with the Eureka Emergency Overnight Warming Center this Winter,” read the public notice distributed in early November. The city is doing its best to help homeless people during harsh winter storms by making it easier for them to get emergency shelter. It’s the city’s most active effort in a long time to prevent homeless people from dying in the cold due to exigent circumstances such as lack of shelter during severe winter storms. 

Activation of the Extreme Weather Overnight Center (EWOC) will be based on two factors – volunteer staffing and bad weather.  Once activated by EPD, the EWOC shelters will operate between the hours of 6 PM and 7 AM with about 25 cots per location, with men and women having separate, clean and safe spaces for the night. 

The temporary overnight shelter effort proved successful in the later part of last year’s difficult winter, and is being rebooted for the impending winter season, with more helping hands requested in order to run the emergency shelters as needed, this winter. 

According to the organizers, the need for emergency overnight shelter spaces is the result of tragedy.  After 10 homeless people died outside in the first two months of 2023, while “only” three had died during the same period the previous year, local officials were spurred into action. 

According to the most recent Point in Time Count (PIT count), which documents the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in the community and is conducted by the Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition (HHHC), Eureka had a total of 498 individuals meeting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition. The other count of homeless in Eureka is conducted by the Eureka Police Dept’s UPLIFT team, and counted 249 unsheltered homeless people in the same year. 

This winter, Eureka’s Emergency Weather Overnight Center (EWOC) is capable of housing around 25 people per night per location, if adequately staffed by volunteers. So far, over 100 community members have signed up to offer varying degrees of assistance, in order to staff the EWOCs on short notice, when bad weather threatens lives of people living on the streets of Eureka. Efforts to provide access to services for those taking advantage of the EWOC are being amped up as well, taking advantage of the opportunity to pair people in need with services when possible.

Unsheltered community members are asked to go to one of several pick-up areas in Eureka (listed below), in order to be driven to an EWOC by police officers, after EPD has assessed folks who are looking to go to the shelter for the night. Walk-ins are not allowed in order to ensure a controlled intake process and to address the concerns of local residents who are worried about an increase in transient foot traffic in their neighborhoods near EWOC.

Anybody interested in staying in the EWOC shelter needs to be delivered by Eureka Police, from one of several designated locations in Eureka as follows: 

• Free Meal, at 35 W. 3rd St. in Old Town, at 6:00 PM

• Sacco Amphitheater, at Halvorsen Park on Waterfront Drive, at 6:30 PM

• The Hope Center, in Henderson Center, 2933 H Street, at 7:00 PM

• Corner of 14th & Koster, near the Eureka City Schools bus yard, at 7:30 PM 

• Also, delivery from EPD at any hour

Jacob Rosen, Director of Crisis Alternative Response of Eureka (CARE), was one of the those involved in making the shelter happen, and he credited retiring Eureka’s Police Chief Jarvis for spearheading the idea with collaboration from various corners of the faith-based community to help the shelter become a reality. At the orientation and training held in November, Chief Jarvis told the crowd that in his mind, having homeless individuals expire on the streets of the city due to hypothermia was “unacceptable,” and so a collective effort was launched late last winter to bring in a solution for such emergencies. 

According to Rosen, “Chief Jarvis with EPD, in particular, said ‘enough is enough, and we need to do something, and we need to do it now,’ and you know, we checked in with some of our faith-based community members.” Rosen added that from “plan to implementation, that was a week,” emphasizing the fast pace that they and community members pulled together the first overnight warming center at Lifehouse church, earlier this year.  

Here, in an interview with Commander LaFrance and CARE Director Jacob Rosen, the developing EWOC program and goals for the temporary shelter are discussed in the context of an increase in transient deaths seen last winter, as 2023 was getting under way. [KEET-13 interview and video for Headline Humboldt by Ryan Hutson] 

Rosen explained that in the coming weeks and possibly months (depending on the weather), the EWOC shelters will be put into action if the weather presents a combination of risk factors, which might include an extreme temperature drop overnight, coupled with copious rainfall, or a formidable wind chill factor, for example. He emphasized that a single poor weather factor in and of itself may not be enough to trigger the need for a shelter. Explaining that the city’s emergency shelter effort is learning from its experiences earlier in the year, the CARE Director indicated that multiple factors would be considered this time around, and that low temperatures alone would not be the determining factor. 

With the goal being to provide an alternative to the streets when winters become untenable for the unsheltered, Eureka’s temporary EWOC shelters are geared towards helping people who might otherwise suffer hypothermia, or other ailments that may be exacerbated by poor weather, such as hypertension and other heart-related health problems.

Rosen told us, “This is something that… we could put together every winter and you know, keep this running and activated as needed. Again, with the goal of really reducing barriers to getting people inside during an emergency.” 

EWOC VOLUNTEERS & TRAINING 

Community members were lauded for showing up to the November volunteer training meeting. 

During the in-person training, community members were briefed on the logistics of the project, as well as walked through some important “de-escalation” pointers as demonstrated by Eureka Police Department (EPD) Commander, Leonard LaFrance, and Director of Eureka’s CARE team, Jacob Rosen.  The number one requirement for being a volunteer is not articulated on the sign-up form, but was made abundantly clear by EWOC coordinators: have compassion. 

Accommodations are made so that entry to the facility is “low barrier” according to Rosen, who explained that people on the streets come with a variety of personal challenges, and encouraged volunteers to recognize the common humanity among community members, be they homeless or otherwise. Rosen and LaFrance both stressed the importance of volunteers being ready to show patience and demonstrate respect, while welcoming unsheltered individuals into the EWOC. 

Community members who are interested in filling out the volunteer application, which is short and asks for contact information and preferred scheduling options, can find information at EurekaWarmingCenter.com. Rosen explained, “The current process for volunteering for the EWOC will be two fold. First, individuals can sign up to be a volunteer,” and then, he explained that volunteers are offered training, on video, that will be made available online as soon as the program is piloted successfully. 

Those who sign up are assured by coordinators that they will receive a text “when we need your help.” Offering a phone line and a website, the effort is a joint mission between the City of Eureka and the Eureka Police Department (EPD). When calling on volunteers to assemble at one or the other church locations, once EPD determines that extreme weather is imminent, a notice by text message is being used to alert volunteers, who can expect to be called upon with short notice, ideally with a full 24 hours notice, according to LaFrance.  

A text message from the EWOC program shows the recipient that they have successfully signed up to help.

The website informs potential volunteers, “Volunteers will be contacted via text message when the emergency warming center is activated. A minimum of 3 volunteers will be needed from 6pm-7am to help monitor a safe place to sleep on dangerously cold nights when the temperatures are projected to be below 30 degrees Fahrenheit.” 

Outlining the requirements for staffing the EWOC, the website explains, “Volunteers need to be a minimum of 18 years old and will be offered training prior to volunteering. Seeking both male and female volunteers. The location of the Emergency Warming Center will be on a rotating basis depending on the day of the week and all will be located in the Eureka area.” Noting that the location of the EWOC shelter will be dependent on which day of the week the bad weather is expected, coordinators say that the “location will be shared by text message when we ask for your help.” 

A graph from the 2022 HOMELESS SURVEY, done by the Eureka Police Department reflects self-reported survey responses from homeless individuals in 2022, compared to the 2020 survey responses.

The program has a fairly straightforward mission, and was welcomed by various churches who are offering to participate by offering space or resources, volunteers or even food preparation on short notice. The Lifehouse Church and Eureka’s Faith Center are setting the example by offering a secure shelter space available, in addition to enlisting some of their members as volunteers at the EWOC.

Volunteers are expected to have a relatively mellow job while on duty, essentially there to provide security and oversight for the unhoused folks who would arrive, mostly just looking for a night of sleep out of the elements.

EWOC RULES: SAFETY AND RESPECT 

The program is emphasizing one simple, golden rule: respect. Going in both directions, participants are expected to show respect to the space, the volunteers, to their peers and importantly, to themselves. 

Jacob Rosen spoke about the reasoning for the simplicity of the rules and structure, saying “our primary goal is to stop folks from dying on the streets, and so long as they can follow the rules…” Rosen explained that they would be welcomed. The rules were “designed to be pretty loose,” said Rosen, who reiterated the bottom line, saying, “respect yourself, respect the staff, respect the facility, and respect the others that are there… as long as someone can follow those tenets, you know, and be safe,” that all would be well within the EWOC for a night. 

A reception table at the EWOC’s entrance last February included a simple set of rules as people are welcomed in, which applies to all participants and volunteers, simply stating that mutual respect is the underlying rule that governs the temporary shelter and its volunteers. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

One way that the EWOC is reducing barriers for people seeking shelter, is to allow most pets to accompany their humans, so that an unhoused individual may bring their furry companions in for the night.

In regard to possible drug use by those seeking a night at the EWOC, Rosen explained that a healthy dose of compassion is required. When asked if a person who is high or obviously in an altered state would be allowed in, Rosen explained that in keeping with the desire to maintain a “low barrier” to entry for homeless community members, leniency would be important, balanced by the number one rule: respect. “Our primary goal is to stop people from dying on the streets,” he reiterated, noting that volunteers could be trained for the use of Narcan, in the event of an overdose situation, which Rosen acknowledged, theoretically could happen.

Rosen explained, “If we see someone who we know uses substances or reports having used substances, if they can behave themselves and they haven’t lost control of their body… their behavior, and you know, they’re safe and saying they’re not going to use more and put themselves at risk, in all likelihood, you know, we may be able to screen them in and get them a space to stay so that they stay safe.” 

A graph from the 2022 HOMELESS SURVEY, done by the Eureka Police Department reflects self-reported survey responses from homeless individuals in 2022, compared to the 2020 survey responses.

If an individual is causing problems at the overnight shelter, or is simply too intoxicated to maintain their composure, they would be politely asked to leave. An unfortunate incident such as this would not necessarily bar a person from the EWOC in the future, but would likely require medical or police intervention, along with volunteer staff assisting the person in leaving safely (with the help of Eureka Police, if needed) in order to preserve the sanctuary of the EWOC for the existing community members enjoying shelter for the night. 

If an individual appears to be having an extreme mental health breakdown, or is obviously impaired, Commander LaFrance has indicated for the safety of volunteers and other participants at the warming center, individuals deemed unsafe to themselves or others, will not be delivered to the warming center locations.

Any volatile situations that arise will be responded to by Eureka Police, according to Commander LaFrance, who assured community members at the in-person training that the process of controlled delivery to EWOC locations would largely reduce the risk of anything adverse happening. Understanding the need for mutual respect, organizers of the EWOC program are confident that any challenges that arise can be addressed with compassion, and that volunteers assisting in the EWOC can feel confident in their ability to oversee the warming center overnight with the training and guidance offered. 

Community members who are interested in helping are encouraged to call (707) 441-4206 or email [email protected] with any questions.

Earlier:

• ‘Which Bad Decision Do You Make?’ Greenbelt Sweep in Eureka Displaces Dozens, Removes Tons of Trash {Award Winning Journalism}
• Death at City Hall
• Victim in Dumpster Death Remembered by Protestors at the Courthouse Today
• ‘Where do you want me to go?’ Tents, Trash, and Trauma in Eureka
• ‘We don’t know where to go’: Caltrans and CHP Cleared the Greenbelt in North Eureka Again Yesterday
• Another Homeless Death in Humboldt Prompts Outrage at Eureka’s Authorized Encampment Workshop
• Transient Deaths Increase in Winter 2023 as Eureka Looks for Emergency Shelter Site