Mayors from across the United States gathered at a conference in Washington, D.C. over the weekend for the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols was in attendance for the first time since taking office in December.
The conference focuses on the challenges heads of local governments face. Many facets of government were discussed, including weather policy. Nichols described Tulsa’s extreme weather response as generally exemplary but noted a deficiency.
“An area where we have to improve is how we’re handling those folks who don’t have a home, who are sleeping outside when the temperatures dip below freezing,” Nichols said. “We don’t have the shelter capacity or the affordable housing units at this point to make sure that nobody has to sleep outside.”
Nichols took guidance from what some mayors do to help shelter homeless people during cold snaps. Nichols said that some cities open emergency shelters during the entire cold weather season, not just during extreme cold conditions.
“So, if it’s unseasonably warm, well, then they just have additional shelter capacity, but when they get those cold snaps they’re already prepared for it,” Nichols said.
Washington, D.C. is an example of a city that has a winter plan in place during hypothermia season, which spans Nov. 1 to March 31.
Tulsa currently has four emergency shelter locations and five drop in or warming stations listed on the city website.
