As Tuesday night’s temperatures in Albuquerque dropped to the lowest they’ve been in decades, the city’s homeless shelters were filled to capacity with people looking for a warm bed.
Good Shepherd Center representative Charles Schreiner said the establishment’s 100 beds were occupied by the city’s homeless.
“Fortunately, the fire department allows us to put 20 people on the floor with sleeping bags in our kitchen,” he said.
Joy Junction, which typically provides only overnight lodging, allowed people to stay throughout the day in order to avoid subzero temperatures, a representative said.
The center, which can house 300 people a night, dispatched representatives who picked people from the streets and offered blankets, coffee and jackets to homeless refusing shelter.
The Albuquerque Fire Department also handed out blankets Tuesday evening and helped those looking for a place to stay find homeless shelters, a spokesperson said.
Dozens of people camped outside the Albuquerque Rescue Mission on Wednesday afternoon, and shelters around the city prepared for an influx of people looking for a warm bed.
“We get a lot of regular homeless people,” Schreiner said. “They know they can have a clean place to stay.”
The low temperature Tuesday was 4 degrees, and the high temperature was 28.
The low for Wednesday was predicted to be 6 below zero. The high was predicted to be 9 degrees, the coldest high temperature on record in February.
Wednesday’s temperature at 6:15 a.m. was 1 degree. Nov. 27, 1976, was the last time Albuquerque hit a low of 1 degree.
The all-time recorded low is 17 below zero, which happened Jan. 7, 1971.
UNM Spokeswoman Carolyn Gonzales said that in her 20 years at UNM, she can’t recall the University ever closing for two straight days during the fall and spring semesters because of inclement weather. Gonzales said UNM will not tack extra days on at the end of the semester.
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