TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council Member Theresa Gadus plans to introduce legislation to support the city’s “Code Blue” program, which provides emergency overnight warming shelters during extreme cold weather.
According to the legislation details, this ordinance would authorize the city to spend $80,000 of the city’s General Fund to support the Code Blue Cold Weather Response Initiative. It would also authorize the Mayor to enter into a donation agreement with the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board, as well as declare an emergency.
In the ordinance’s summary, Gadus wrote that families and individuals experiencing homelessness face severe risks from exposure to the extreme cold. She said the city has seen a rise in homeless encampments, families sleeping in vehicles and requests for emergency housing assistance. Gadus said in the legislation that she expects these numbers to rise with many federal programs that address these hardships having been cut…