No cooling centers for unhoused people in the Gorge this summer

Last month, two service providers announced they would not open cooling shelters this summer for people experiencing homelessness in the Columbia River Gorge. The shelters used to open only for day use when the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for the region, and other air-conditioned facilities, like libraries, were not available. Washington Gorge Action Programs, which operates in Klickitat and Skamania counties, made the decision to close its Emergency Cooling Center in Stevenson after it found that not a single person visited the facility last summer. Instead, the organization has been distributing “cooling kits” which contain items like a battery-operated fan, water and sunscreen. The kits are being distributed at its offices, a thrift store it operates and through partnerships and outreach events with community organizations. Mid-Columbia Community Action Council is distributing cooling kits throughout its service area of Hood River, Sherman and Wasco Counties. Jennifer Pauletto, associate director of WAGAP, and Kenny LaPoint, executive director of MCCAC, share with us how this effort is going so far, and the impact it’s having for their clients.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Last month, two service providers in the Columbia River Gorge announced they would not be opening cooling shelters this summer for people experiencing homelessness. Washington Gorge Action Programs which operates in Klickitat and Skamania counties made a decision to close its cooling center in Stevenson after it found that not a single person visited the facility last summer; they’re distributing cooling kits instead. Mid-Columbia Community Action Council is doing the same thing in Hood River, Sherman and Wasco counties.

Jennifer Pauletto is the associate director of Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP), Kenny LaPoint is executive director of the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC). They both join us now. It’s great to have both of you on Think Out Loud.

Jennifer Pauletto: Thank you, Dave.

Kenny LaPoint: Thanks, Dave.

Miller: Jennifer, first. What would it take in the past for you to open up a cooling center?

Pauletto: We would open up a cooling center in situations where the temperature was over 100 degrees or there was high humidity that made the living abilities outside a certain danger level. And in the previous years, we had individuals who would utilize the shelter. However, last year, we had zero people use it, and so we have pivoted our resources to be more responsible and reflect the needs of the community. Last year, we had many folks ask us for physical items to stay cool where they are. And so we are using our resources to meet those needs for the individuals in our community, after that request, specifically from our BIPOC community and Native American community along the river on both sides of the Columbia River Gorge.

Miller: Why do you think people didn’t take advantage of the Cooling Center last year?

Pauletto: We heard from many folks that they would prefer to stay in their own location. Many folks who have barriers to transportation or are the same folks who have barriers to seeking cooling resources. And so we have listened to their needs and identified that resources such as cooling kits were going to be a better use of our finances as well as meet the needs of more members of community than the Cooling Center would.

Miller: So it seems like for you, part of this has to do with the geographic realities of a rural area and maybe more spread out clientele. Kenny LaPoint, what about you? Why do you think that people didn’t take advantage of the cooling centers on the other side of the river?

LaPoint: I mean, I would echo Jennifer’s words that folks have limited access to transportation in a rural area like we’re in here in the Gorge, and many of our communities are like islands, and how the Gorge is laid out and it makes it difficult to get to and from places. That made it difficult for folks to get into cooling centers even though we did offer transportation through our local bus system.

But I think, also, another aspect of it is folks who are living outside, unsheltered, do not want to leave their locations in fear of having their things taken from them. And things are taken from them in various ways, whether it’s from someone else in the community or there’s a camp sweep that is done. And so there’s a fear around that. And so just as WAGAP over on the Washington side experienced, we experienced folks not utilizing our cooling centers. And we heard from Native and farm worker community members that it would just be much better if we provided supplies for people to stay cool in the locations that they’re in. So that’s what we’ve chosen to do this year.

Miller: Is the same issue that you’re talking about here - this is specifically about cooling centers - but geographically, could those same arguments be an issue in terms of warming shelters, six months from now or even places that might provide other versions of daytime support? I guess I’m wondering how widespread this issue might be in the ways it could get in the way of the kinds of services you’re hoping to be able to provide?

LaPoint: It definitely will impact warming shelters in the wintertime and it has impacted warming shelters. I would say that folks are definitely more likely to come inside during the wintertime in a severe weather event and we will continue to open warming shelters in that situation. But in the wintertime, we even provided warming supplies to folks who were choosing to continue to stay outside because one of our jobs is to prevent folks from passing away during severe weather events. And so we wanted to make sure and get them the resources that they needed so they could stay warm. So we provided folks with propane, with small heaters, and conducted outreach where we were giving things like

beanies, warm hats, warm gloves, socks, all that type of stuff, jackets so people could stay warm in their location, although we still do provide transitional shelter facilities in our area.

Miller: Jennifer, what’s in a cooling kit?

Pauletto: Currently, our cooling kits are similar on both sides of the river. We have items like a cooling scarf which is something you can soak in cool water and it stays cool for a long amount of time. We have water, lip balm, sunscreen, a small snack, a battery powered fan, and it’s all in an easy carrying backpack or other bag. Some other things that folks might need, we can provide. And so over time, we might hear from community that there are needs for other items like wide-brim hats or those kinds of things that we would be happy to do our best to accommodate. So this is one of the ways that our outreach workers are able to connect with community and say, ‘These are the things we have, how does this meet your need, and what other needs might you have?’ so that we might be able to meet those with some of the funds that we have to provide these outreach services and cooling kits.

Miller: How many of these kits have you distributed?

Pauletto: WAGAP has distributed 20 altogether, 10 specifically to In Lieu sites. And we have cooling kits located at every office that we have, so Stevenson, Benton and Goldendale, and we will be including them with our community outreach partners to be distributing them to In Lieu sites along the river.

Miller:  Kenny, are your cooling kits any different?

LaPoint: Our cooling kits are virtually identical to the ones that Washington Gorge Action Programs passed out. And I’ll say there’s, that’s not just coincidence. Jennifer’s organization and my organization formed what’s called the Mid-Columbia Houseless Collaborative and we worked together to align our policies and the work that we’re doing in the region. So we talked about this before summer even hit and figured out what our strategy was going to be when severe weather hit during the summertime. We’ve distributed 56 cooling kits as of Friday of last week and 20 of those kits went to Native In Lieu sites on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.

Miller: How have you both been spreading the word about this?

Pauletto: We’ve definitely collaborated on messaging and created a press release that went out to all of our local and regional news syndicates, as well as communicating this to all of our internal staff and outreach workers and our community partners, like Kenny said, some of the partnerships that we have through the Mid-Columbia Houseless Collaborative. There are over 40 folks on that team. And so being able to share that messaging out with those partners is one of the main ways that we are getting the word out about these resources. And making sure that they’re a low barrier-access. So if coming to an office is difficult for someone, how are we gonna get these tools and resources out to community where they are, with some of our outreach workers or our community partner agencies.

Miller: What about, and Jennifer, you could take this first, options for people who do have housing but may have no AC and no fans?

Pauletto: So we have sought some specific funding to be able to meet some of these unique needs that might happen. So sometimes folks may do well with what they have on a daily basis or something breaks, or just the heat of a certain day gets too much for what they have in their home to be able to meet the need. And so there are some availability of resources to be able to meet those unique needs for folks who are maybe at a higher risk of getting heat stroke or heat exhaustion. So we encourage folks to reach out to us in order to seek further resources if what we’re providing isn’t enough.

Miller: Kenny, in terms of just its effects on our bodies, there’s a really big difference between, say, a 90 degree day that goes down to maybe 60 degrees at night, and a 105  degree day that only goes down to 75. We’ve heard over the last couple of years, a lot from doctors about how even though we don’t really pay as much attention to it, it’s the heat not going that far down at night, which is one of the biggest problems for us and for human bodies. Do you think that you might take a different approach when we face something more like the heat dome again?

LaPoint: I definitely think we will do that if we end up in that situation. And I’ll note that we’ve been fortunate this summer time, we have not experienced daytime temperatures over 100 degrees in the Columbia River Gorge as of yet. So, you know, cross our fingers that we don’t. Two years ago, during the summertime, the city of The Dalles was the hottest place in the world at 122 degrees, I believe. And we had that heat dome effect.

We have utilized severe heat advisories to indicate whether we should open facilities up. So we’re not just going off of, you know, 100 degree temperature that is dropping to 60 degrees at night or if it’s 100 degrees for an hour and then drops to 95; we’re actually going off of, of indicators that have extended periods of heat that are high levels of heat for long periods of time. So if we do end up in a situation where the temperatures are high for continuous periods of time, we will reevaluate whether or not we’re going to open a Cooling Center in our area.

We do utilize the library system. Some libraries are open as cooling facilities in our area so folks can go into those locations. But when and if we need to fill the gap of where libraries may not be open, we would consider using our resources to do that. But for now, the cooling kits seem to be the best way to address the needs that exist based on the weather we’re experiencing right now.

Miller: And just briefly, Jennifer, how is it that you’re able to actually pivot? I guess I would have thought that you were more hemmed in by funders in terms of how you’ll spend your money? We have about a minute left.

Pauletto: So for Kenny’s folks, as well as ours, the amount of money that we were paying on staffing these locations was a loss and it didn’t go directly back to the community. So we communicated with some of our funders and sought other funding that was flexible enough to meet the community’s need, the way that they wanted that need met. And so this is the way we were able to pivot to these cooling kits this year with the option of going to a  cooling location, if we have a severe heat event.

Miller: I wanna thank both of you very much. Jennifer Pauletto and Kenny Lapoint, thank you.

Pauletto: Thank you.

LaPoint: Thanks for having us.

Miller: Kenny LaPoint is executive director of the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council. Jennifer Pauletto is the associate director of the Washington Gorge Action Programs.

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