The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has opened its climate-controlled foyer as an emergency warming shelter for people experiencing homelessness during the current cold snap, welcoming individuals, families and well-behaved pets.
Two people used the makeshift shelter in the foyer on Wednesday night, sleeping in sleeping bags provided by the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Aaron Hanson said each person had unique circumstances that brought them to seek shelter.
“All he needed was some time and a safe place to be until he could charge his phone and call for a ride the next morning,” Hanson said about one of the individuals. “The woman was a little bit more complicated case, an outreach coordinator for the sheriff’s office had to work with the city’s outreach team to connect that individual not only with temporary shelter but with resources in terms of behavioral health, Social Security benefit assistance because she had been not receiving her Social Security disability checks for 5 months.”…