As temperatures plummet across western Washington ahead of the holiday season, cold weather shelters in Snohomish County and Seattle are preparing to provide critical refuge for individuals experiencing homelessness who face life-threatening conditions sleeping outdoors during frigid winter nights.
In Seattle, The Salvation Army is operating an emergency cold weather shelter at the Sodo Shelter Bay A location, situated at 1039 6th Avenue South in the industrial district south of downtown.
With capacity to accommodate 35 individuals, the shelter welcomes pets alongside their owners and provides light dinner and breakfast meals to guests. The facility will operate from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. nightly from 27 November through 31 December, spanning the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods when vulnerable populations face particular risks.
Lieutenant Colonel Cindy Foley, The Salvation Army’s Divisional Commander for the region, emphasised the life-saving importance of these emergency shelters. “Our shelters serve our neighbors in need who face deadly conditions whilst sleeping outside in frigid temperatures. The Salvation Army provides a safe place to warm up, hydrate, eat, and get connected to other resources that can move our unhoused neighbors beyond homelessness,” Foley stated, articulating both the immediate safety function and longer-term service connection role emergency shelters play.
In Snohomish County, seven cold weather shelters are positioned to activate as soon as local temperatures are forecast to drop to 34 degrees Fahrenheit or below, a threshold established based on medical research indicating when prolonged exposure creates serious health risks. These shelters, operated by community-based organisations and frequently hosted by local faith communities that volunteer their facilities, offer overnight accommodations during dangerously cold weather conditions that would otherwise prove fatal for people sleeping outdoors without adequate protection.
The Everett Cold Weather Shelter, managed by the Everett Gospel Mission, will be located at the United Church of Christ in Everett, providing services in the county’s largest city where significant homeless populations concentrate.
The East Everett Cold Weather Shelter, operated by Volunteers of America Western Washington, will be hosted at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church, serving the eastern portions of Everett where residential areas meet industrial zones.
The Everett Family Cold Weather Shelter, also operated by Everett Gospel Mission, will specifically serve women with children at the Women and Children’s Mission facility, recognising that families experiencing homelessness require different accommodations and services than single adults.
Additional shelters throughout Snohomish County include the Marysville Cold Weather Shelter at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, the Monroe Cold Weather Shelter at Monroe Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Snohomish Cold Weather Shelter at Snohomish Evangelical Free Church, and the South County Cold Weather Shelter at Maple Park Church, all operated by Volunteers of America Western Washington, creating a distributed network ensuring geographic coverage across the sprawling county.
Community Transit and Everett Transit are offering free transportation to these shelter locations, eliminating the financial and logistical barriers that might prevent individuals from reaching safe overnight accommodations when temperatures drop dangerously low. The transit agencies’ cooperation reflects recognition that emergency shelter access depends on transportation availability for populations that typically lack personal vehicles.
Volunteer opportunities are available through the Snohomish County Public Safety Hub for community members wishing to support shelter operations through meal preparation, overnight monitoring, resource coordination, or other assistance that enhances shelter capacity and service quality.
Last winter, Snohomish County’s network of cold weather shelters provided 6,468 total bed nights, representing thousands of instances where individuals received potentially life-saving protection from exposure. The busiest night occurred on 16 February, when 260 individuals sought emergency shelter accommodations, a surge that demonstrated both the system’s capacity and the substantial population requiring services during severe weather events.
The activation of cold weather shelters comes as forecasters predict temperatures will drop significantly below freezing overnight in coming days, creating hypothermia risks for anyone sleeping outdoors without adequate insulation, heating, and protection from wind and precipitation that accelerate heat loss from the human body.
