“Seven hundred people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are killed from hypothermia annually in the United States. Forty-four percent of the nation’s homeless are unsheltered. From the urban streets of our populated cities to the remote back-country of rural America, hypothermia – or subnormal temperature in the body – remains a leading, critical and preventable cause of injury and death among those experiencing homelessness.” (National Coalition for the Homeless, Winter Homeless Services: Bringing Our Neighbors in from the Cold, 2010)
The above quote was one of the first things I read while researching the affects and conditions that homeless people around the nation are facing during these long and cold winter months. The extreme weather conditions we have been experiencing lately all over the country are bound to affect those who are living on the streets or do not have access to permanent residences. I wanted to know what organizations are doing to combat the risks faced by the homeless during weather like this and how homeless people find shelter and warmth during the winter. After exploring the website for the National Coalition for the Homeless I came across their “winter report”. This report gave data and graphs showing how different organizations respond to the inclement weather and also gave tips on how to spot and avoid different types of illnesses and medical conditions that can come during the winter months.

I thought it was worth looking at this report since our entire nation has been experiencing worse weather than usual this winter, especially the east coast, Midwest and south. I looked at states with different winter shelters and how low the temperatures had to be for those shelters to open and across the board the shelters would have to be open by now and be providing extra care for the homeless during these extremely cold winter months. My findings were not terribly positive, and in many states the care for the homeless during these months left much to be desired. This quote from the website for the National Coalition for the Homeless explains these findings further, saying “In rural areas, shelters often have no outside resources to help them cope with the increased demand caused by cold weather conditions. Many shelters or cities offer expanded winter services only during certain months or only when the temperature falls below a pre-determined and arbitrary cut-off temperature. Above those cut-offs (hypothermia can occur in weather as warm as 50 degrees Fahrenheit) many cities do not offer resources to help the homeless people escape from the cold.”