East Clackamas warming shelters open, but not in all areas
Sandy, Estacada homeless population will have to travel to seek warmth amid winter weather conditions
As temperatures are expected to drop this week, many without housing in the Sandy and Estacada areas are seeking shelter. At Estacada Food Bank, at least 32 of their regular customers are people who are homeless and have been camping in neighboring wooded areas for some semblance of shelter. Additionally, 20 customers live in vehicles and 28 customers categorized themselves as unhoused.
In Sandy, the city has seen an increase in people who are homeless coming in during the pandemic, but Kirsten Pitzer with the Sandy Community Action Center says because of a lack of warming shelters nearby, she suspects those folks bus out of town on the weekends to the Portland metro area where warming shelters are more plentiful.