The recent heavy snow and freezing overnight temperatures have driven hundreds of homeless people in the region to seek emergency shelter from the extreme weather. But some people do their best to tough it out.
The choice of whether to get indoors or sleep outside in sub-freezing temperatures might seem like an obvious one. But some homeless people – especially those who’ve been on the streets for years – say they’d rather not subject themselves to what they see as the hassles and indignities of crowded shelters.
Dan – who I met on a bench in downtown Ashland – says, compared to his native Alberta, Canada, the recent cold snap isn’t that bad. The trick, he says, is staying dry.
“The worst is when it’s just below freezing,” he says. “And then everything melts on contact and you can’t stay dry at all.”
Dan says he’s been outside for about eight years. He avoids shelters because of the lack of privacy and quiet.
“I’d rather have a little bit of my own space, y’know?”
Shelters also won’t allow Dan’s dog Blondie to stay with him.
So Dan says he’ll make his own way, regardless of severe weather.
