All the homeless who have not gotten into a shelter for the evening come here hoping for referrals to available slots in the city. Throughout Seattle, there are over 2000 homeless slots each evening. Most of them are simply a mat on the floor with a flimsy blanket for cover. In some shelters, over 100 of these mats line the floor of an old warehouse or other open space, arranged in 4 or 5 rows of 20 to 25 mats, only a couple of inches separate them, and just enough room to walk between one row and the next. As the shelters call in, the volunteer handling the phone notes the name of the shelter and the number of available slots.
Some shelters accept only men, others only women.
Some will not accept any under the age of 55. According to the number I have assigned them, another volunteer calls these urban refugees to the table to determine their ages and to see if they have been in any of the shelters recently. They may be restricted from a particular shelter if they have stayed there in the past 30 days or violated any shelter rules. Couples are interviewed to see if they are willing to be referred to different shelters. Because this evening is exceptionally cold, the demand for slots is high.