Weber County officials once again will use the dining hall at an Ogden homeless facility as the emergency shelter for the homeless on the coldest of nights this winter.
It’s only meant as a stopgap solution, though, as the search for a permanent warming facility continues, said Weber County Commissioner Sharon Bolos.
Legislation passed in 2023 requires Utah’s largest counties, including Weber County, to have a "code blue" facility available from Oct. 15 to April 30 each year to serve the unsheltered population overnight when the temperature dips to 18 degrees or below.
Weber County officials are tasked with finding a site for the county, but Bolos said efforts dating to last year to pinpoint a permanent location have thus far been unsuccessful. The county would need space for an emergency warming center for only about eight months each year factoring set-up and take-down times, and Bolos said most property owners don’t want to lease a location for such a limited duration.
“So we’d like to have a permanent site. We’re working toward that right now,” and even considering construction of a new facility, she said. With the mild weather so far this season, Utah officials haven’t yet declared any code blue alerts.
If needed, though, the stand-alone dining hall at Lantern House, an Ogden homeless shelter, will serve as the code blue shelter, the same as last year. The cafeteria, located just north of Lantern House and called St. Anne’s Kitchen, will be able to accommodate up to 50 people, according to Lauren Navidomskis, the Lantern House executive director.
Those establishing code blue centers are to prioritize sites more than a mile from existing homeless shelters, according to state law, but lack of options led to the decision to use St. Anne’s Kitchen. The site is “the best thing we as a provider can do for those unhoused during these extremely cold nights,” Navidomskis said.
Bolos doesn’t think the Weber County code blue facility reached capacity when used during the winter of 2024-25. Lantern House gets state funds to cover the costs of running the emergency space.
Whatever the case, Navidomskis said creation of the emergency warming centers should be more the responsibility of the varied communities they’re to serve, not homeless facilities like Lantern House. Within Weber County, she also lamented the apparent lack of interest in tackling the issue among leaders outside of Ogden.
“As much as winter response per statute should be placed on the communities and cities to handle, it has been very much focused to the service providers to handle it,” she said. “There has been minimal conversations with municipalities outside of Ogden for support.”
Bolos said St. Anne’s Kitchen may be tapped to serve as Weber County’s code blue facility again for the winter of 2026-27. But she hopes another permanent site can be pinpointed for use starting in 2027-28.
She said county officials have considered building a new facility on county property somewhere to serve as the warming center. The county could tap it outside the code blue season for other uses.