BEND, OR -- Winter is just getting started and Central Oregon’s homeless shelters are already operating at or near capacity. Shepherd’s House Emergency Services Director John Lodise says The Lighthouse Center in Bend opens additional space in the day-use area to get more people inside overnight, when its 110 beds fill up. "We don’t want people to be out in the cold and risk their lives in what can be sometimes deadly cold weather. So, we want to do whatever we can to bring people inside and keep them safe," Lodise said. "So, the other night, we had 138 people total in the building here, and we had 28 people in the building in Redmond," he told KBND News Friday, "So that’s 166 people that we were putting up."

Gwenn Wysling, Executive Director of the Bethlehem Inn, says their Bend shelter is full, with new people moving in as soon as others move out, "That capacity is an ebb and flow. Roughly, we’ve served 166 people in the last month." She says operating at capacity has become common nearly all year-round, "It happens a lot in the summer, too. So, we have peak capacity in the summertime, as well." But, she adds, "This time of year, it seems a little more demanding because the weather is so harsh and it is so cold. And there are not a whole lot of alternatives if you don’t have a place to stay."

Lodise says Shepherd's House sees a similar trend, "We’ve been at 110 beds, here at the Lighthouse, for the last three months, even when it was warmer. That’s more directly related to more and more people who are on the streets or camping, seem to be making a choice that they want to move on from that." The Shepherd’s House shower truck is also serving about 95 people a week in various camps.

Both nonprofits operate shelters in Redmond. None are at capacity, although Lodise says the warming shelter at Mountain View Fellowship is nearly full every night. The Redmond Bethlehem Inn has been open for a year. Wysling says it has some space available for people willing to participate in their program.

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