In 2022, we launched our first cold weather activation on November 6. In 2023, our first winter activation started on November 23. We know that for our third winter responding to severe weather, the cold weather is coming—and coming soon.
Like early heatwaves, early cold snaps are uniquely dangerous because they often happen before our bodies have had the chance to acclimate to the new season. Without shelter, one can be highly susceptible to hypothermia—even when the weather doesn’t seem that cold or dangerous to someone that has somewhere to go to warm up. According to the CDC, hypothermia can set in when temperatures are above 40° F when a person is chilled by rain, sweat, or wind. When the temperatures drop even lower—below freezing, or there is a high volume of cold precipitation, it becomes increasingly life-threatening to our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness.
As we get ready for the 2024/2025 winter season, we’ve been working on improving our severe weather activations throughout the entire county. Here are some of the changes that are currently underway:
- We are currently amending our contracts with Seattle service providers who are contracted to activate during severe weather events. The amendments will allow us to get them their funding ASAP, so we don’t need to spend time as we get ready for any specific activation to get them their funding. This will expedite the process, alleviate some of the labor burden during activations, and ultimately allow service providers to react more quickly and efficiently when we activate.
- King County increased their investment from $50,000 to $125,000 for severe weather response outside of Seattle. These funds will be distributed throughout South, East, and North King County, in a regional approach to respond to severe weather events. This is a significant increase for many communities who will receive funding from this investment.
- We anticipate funding from the five North King County municipalities that have signed an Interlocal Agreement (ILA), as well as two East King County municipalities, to be pooled and distributed in those regions, in a coordinated regional response.
- We are currently working on updating our Severe Weather Policy and Cold Weather Activation Thresholds to include more clarity in our activation tiers, and how we activate various subregions of King County. We will update these documents on our Severe Weather page soon, once they’re finalized.
- KCRHA has been running and participating in tabletop exercises internally and with community partners to find parts of our severe weather protocols that need to be improved before we activate in a real severe weather situation.
In addition to those key changes, we are also reworking how we distribute funding for severe weather activations county-wide. Agencies will be able to apply for funding rather than KCRHA-distributed material supplies in order to ensure that specific community needs are met. Additionally, we will be releasing a bi-annual Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process which will pre-qualify agencies for funding opportunities. This will allow us to create a pool of qualified severe weather service providers who can apply for severe weather funding when it is released for activations. Since agencies will be pre-qualified, it will allow us to release the funding quickly, empowering those agencies to purchase the supplies they need to respond in their specific communities. This new two-step process will launch in February of 2025, and will ensure a faster response to severe weather, while also doing our due diligence to vet the organizations that are responding.
How can the public help?
- Check in with organizations around your neighborhood—ask what their cold weather needs are, and try to meet that need. If we’re in an activation, you can look at our Severe Weather page to find organizations that are providing warming spaces.
- Carry dry, warm socks, emergency blankets, hand warmers, and/or ponchos to offer to people who are experiencing homelessness and requesting help.
- Sign up to volunteer with an organization near your home (so it’s easy to access during inclement weather)
- When we activate severe weather protocols, share the shelter lists in whatever ways you can—whether that’s posting our Severe Weather page or graphics on social media, or printing our severe weather flyers and distributing them in your community. Graphics and flyers are available during activations on our Severe Weather page.
Our email subscribers are notified on the first day of activations so you can take action. Subscribe here.
With additional funding spread across a wider geographic range in King County, a more efficient funding process in place, more experience under our belts, and an engaged community, we are looking forward to better, broader activations this winter.
Housing solves homelessness. Until everyone is housed, emergency response and the activation of warming centers and overnight shelter is a life-saving intervention during the cold winter months. We are on a continual path of improvement with severe weather response, because we know valuable human lives are in the balance.
We are working on transitioning our Severe Weather page from the heat/smoke season to the cold weather season. It will undergo a full seasonal refresh as we release our new Severe Weather policy and related documents.
