PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (AP) — Officials at a Washington winter shelter say the shelter is already at capacity, and the number of seniors needing housing has increased.
The Peninsula Daily News reports Mike Johnson, the manager of the Jefferson County Winter Shelter in the basement of the American Legion Post No. 26 building, says throughout the summer the average age of the 10 women who stayed at the overnight shelter was 63.
Johnson says the shelter currently has four people over the age of 70, which he says is the shelter’s highest growing population.
The shelter usually opens Nov. 1, but this year it opened Oct. 22 and will remain open until April 15.
The shelter has 12 beds for women, 20 beds for men and two sick rooms, meaning it can serve 34 people total each night.