Robert Johnston, an advocate for the homeless, asks why the city of Little Rock didn’t arrange shelters for the homeless in this week’s patch of icy weather despite having done so during an earlier cold snap.
Deputy City Manager Bryan Day responds:
Our homeless service coordinator talked with the Compassion Center, Union Rescue and Salvation Army and all three had available beds and were open during the day. Because we did not have the volunteer base readily available this time (which we got thru City Connections) and because there were plenty of available beds and space, we opted not to open. When we opened last time it was 20 and 30 degrees colder than this past weather event and all of the providers indicated we needed the additional space – that was the primary difference.
Sandra Wilson, chair of the Homeless Coalition, had earlier distributed an e-mail noting the death of a homeless man, found dead near his lean-to. She wrote: