Utah Valley warming centers closing for the season
Apr 22, 2025, 7:00 AM | Updated: 10:12 am
FILE: The Provo Seventh-day Adventist Church Community Center stands in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. The church will host a warming center for homeless people on Thursdays. Isaac Hale, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s an uncertain time for people experiencing homelessness as winter warming centers begin closing for the season. The last night people will be able to utilize the Utah Valley warming centers is April 30. In other areas across Utah, the centers are already closed. The William A. Burnard Warming Center in Cache Valley closed on April 13.
“A lot of them are getting fearful. You know, they’ve had some stability and now that stability might go away,” said Kena Mathews, Housing Director at Community Action Services and Food Bank.
Davis County warming center changes location due to early building demolition
On Monday, Community Action Services and Food Bank hosted a Community Resource Fair at the Genesis Project in Provo. This concept was born from a concern that people may not know how to access resources after the warming centers close for the season.
Community organizations that provide housing, substance use/addiction treatment and recovery programs, mental health services, education resources, healthcare services, and transportation services were all there to demonstrate how their resources can be accessed.
Warming centers experience season of growth
April 30 marks the end of the first full season of The Utah Valley Warming Centers. It was a season of growth, said center workers.
“We had more people than we expected, probably some behavior issues and things that we weren’t expecting. But all in all, it’s done what it’s supposed to do,” said Mathews.
The warming shelters averaged between 78-113 people, per night, when they only had 75 beds. Mathews plans to work with their partners to accommodate that disparity before they open again in October.
But she’s glad that they’ve been able to give so many people a little bit of stability.
“Now they’re not worried about where they’re going to stay tonight. They know where they’re going to stay tonight. And so that gives them the ability to do other things that they need to do to better their lives,” said Mathews.
Mathews said they had dozens of visitors that were able to obtain housing, employment, or rehab resources over the course of the winter.
