The resource list at the bottom of this story has been updated with a 24-hour plan for warm weather shelter over the weekend. 

Rebecca Carlman didn’t know what to do.

She’d seen the posts on Facebook, a man experiencing homelessness was asleep in a park along N. Main Street. For nearly a week now, temperature highs remained below freezing and in the state’s capital city, there is not a consistent 24-hour warming shelter available.

So she called 911.

“I can’t sleep at night knowing somebody’s out there laying on the ground like that,” she said. “I just can’t.”

It wasn’t the first call Concord emergency services had received over concern about people experiencing homelessness during the cold weather spell, according to Mark Hebert, the deputy chief of operations for the Concord Fire Department.

At this point, Concord fire fighters know the drill.

They’ll head to the scene with an engine and an ambulance to evaluate the individual – looking for signs of frostbite, hypothermia and organ failure. If the person agrees to transport, they’ll then bring them to the hospital to get them warm, check their vitals and perform any life saving measures, if necessary.

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It’s not a perfect solution. Everyone has the right to refuse transport, for starters. But without a round-the-clock emergency warming shelter, it’s one of few immediate responses at hand.

“Emergency shelters are the key right now, especially in this weather,” said Hebert. “But the person has to, has to want to get in.”

For the last week wind advisories have also remained in effect, with gusts upward of 45 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

In municipalities across the country, Rosanne Haggerty, the founder and executive director of Community Solutions, a national nonprofit that works to end homelessness, has seen other local leaders declare a “code blue” response – when temperatures hit below freezing, city-owned buildings like libraries or community centers are opened as 24-hour warming centers until the weather subsides.

That is not the case in Concord.

“We need a stronger system to provide basic safety during the winter on these sub-freezing days,” said Haggerty, who chairs the city’s steering committee on homelessness. “It’s very alarming to have sub-freezing weather and we know upwards of 200 people who are unsheltered living in Concord.”

In Manchester, the city provides 24-hour care throughout the year with their 39 Beech Street Engagement Center and overnight shelter, which opened in two phases in 2023. But the solution may be short lived, as the lease on the shelter is up at the end of March 2025 and Mayor Jay Ruais has called to shift its operations to a non-profit provider, according to Manchester Ink Link.

In Concord, Mayor Byron Champlin said the city has always centered its response to homelessness in partnership with its nonprofit service providers.

An emergency response to the extreme weather – which has been rare lately, he said with more mild winters – is a solution to consider, but not without examining what it would entail and the resources needed, especially with emergency services currently understaffed. 

“I would need to look at the details of how that would impact us, and how that would impact our services and our city employees before I would say, ‘Yeah, that's the way we need to go’,” he said.

Champlin is looking at solutions in the interim, though, like identifying indoor spaces for people to go that are warm and have supervision, he said. 

In the meantime, nonprofit organizations and service providers have continued to fill in the gaps, said Haggerty. 

At the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness, the emergency winter shelter – which can house 40 people each night from December to March – was at capacity on Tuesday, according to Kait Gallagher, the director of development and communications.

To provide a reprieve from the cold during the day, the nonprofit has extended its Resource Center hours as well in conjunction with other service providers.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the Resource Center is now open in the afternoons, from 1-4 p.m., in addition to weekly morning hours of 9-11:30 a.m..

On Monday and Wednesdays, the Community Action Program for Belknap and Merrimack Counties has opened its office space as well.

The hours align with the Friendly Kitchen, the nonprofit soup kitchen in Concord, which provides three meals a day during the winter months.

Fridays, and weekends, remain the only gaps, said Gallagher.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that somebody else in the community can step up,” said Gallagher. “For the majority of the week, we should have close to 24 hours’ coverage.”

Robert Hueftline, 27, knows how this goes. On Thursday afternoon he sat outside the Coalition’s Resource Center waiting for the doors to open for the afternoon shift. He chose to forgo lunch at the Friendly Kitchen that afternoon – he’d been down there for breakfast after sleeping at the winter shelter overnight – with his belongings spilling out of a green Whole Foods reusable grocery bag as he sat on the wooden panels outside the center’s door. 

“It’s just a hassle to have to walk back and forth,” he said. “I was not walking all the way to the kitchen.”

The patchwork coverage coordinated by social service agencies, though, is a temporary solution to a much larger, complex problem Herbert sees. He sits on the city’s public safety advisory’s subcommittee on homelessness – which brings together emergency services, city leaders and the public.

Carlman attended one of these meetings a few weeks ago, alongside a friend who was currently experiencing homelessness. When she asked the committee if the city was working on an immediate solution, the answer was soberingly honest.

“No.”

“They have nothing,” said Carlman. “And they don’t have a plan as far as I’m concerned.”

Weekend Resources: 

Friday-Saturday Coverage

■Through 6 pm:  Friendly Kitchen; 2 S Commercial St, Concord

6 pm - 8 am Saturday:  Concord Coalit

238 N Main St, Concord

Saturday-Sunday Coverage

8 am-6 pm Friendly Kitchen

6 pm-8 am Sunday:  CCEH

Sunday Coverage

8 am-12 pm: Friendly Kitchen

12-6 pm:  CCEH

Resources: 

■Concord Coalition to End Homelessness Resource Center: 238 N. Main St.; Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

■Concord Coalition to End Homelessness Emergency Winter Shelter: 238 N. Main St.; 7 nights a week 6 p.m.-7 a.m. December through March 

■Community Action Program of Belknap and Merrimack County: 2 Industrial Park Drive, Bld 2, Concord; Monday and Wednesday afternoons

■Friendly Kitchen; 2 South Commercial St; breakfast (daily through March 31) 8-8:45 a.m., lunch Monday-Friday noon-12:45 p.m., dinner daily 5-5:45 p.m. 

■Concord Human Services (applying for rental assistance, SNAP, TANF and others); 28 Commercial Street; Monday - Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m, Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

For a full list of assistance from Concord Human Services visit: www.concordnh.gov/579/Human-Services

To volunteer at the Friendly Kitchen, email Valerie Guy at valerie@thefriendlykitchen.org. Donations of all food (perishable and non-perishable that are not expired) are accepted Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at 2 South Commercial St. 

To volunteer at the Concord Coalition’s Emergency Winter Shelter: https://pointapp.org/orgs/5016

For event or special opportunity volunteering, or group volunteer requests, please reach out to Kait Gallagher at kaitgallagher@concordhomeless.org or (603)290-3375 ext. 206.

To donate items to the Concord Coalition email office@concordhomeless.org. A list of current high-need items can be found at www.concordhomeless.org/donate-items