City may put the homeless in city buildings during inclement weather

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

Palo Alto City Manager Ed Shikada wants to expand a program that allows the homeless to sleep in the downtown library during storms.  

A shelter could open in more city-owned buildings, churches or nonprofit spaces and could also operate when it’s hot or after a storm has passed, Shikada said in a report for Palo Alto City Council.

Council will consider approving the expanded shelter program on Monday. 

A security guard would no longer be required on site, replaced with social workers that are trained to support the homeless, Shikada said. He’s expecting the program to be open about 30 nights in a year, costing the city $47,100.

The shelter would open when Santa Clara County says there will be a severe storm or cold weather, and 10 more nights as needed, Shikada said.

The city started using the downtown library as a shelter during storms in the winter of 2023.

Neighbors were caught off guard, and council members didn’t know about the location. “It’s a community-based solution without involving the community, and that’s not right,” resident April Fontana said in March 2024.

So the city held an open house where residents could see the library-turned-shelter before the winter of 2024.

Noodles and oatmeal

Up to 10 homeless people get Cup Noodles for dinner and instant oatmeal for breakfast. They sleep on a foldable camping pad with two sheets and a blanket and have to leave by 7 a.m. so the library can set up its tables and janitors can clean.

“Really what most people want to do is just lay down, rest, sleep for as many hours as they can,” said Aparna Ananthasubramaniam, founder of the nonprofit Heart and Home Collaborative that runs the shelter.

45 people turned away

The shelter was open for 16 nights in December 2025, and 33 different people slept there. A total of 45 people were turned away because no beds were left, Shikada said.

The shelter was started in honor of homeless resident Theodore Nelson Clegg Jr., who died sleeping outside by California Avenue on Feb. 23, 2022, when the temperature dipped to 39 degrees.

Mary Wisnewski, board president for Heart and Home Collaborative, told the Human Relations Commission that the library shelter is a “low barrier shelter, which means anybody can come in.”

No screening

“It also means that men and women are in there. It means that we are not screening anyone,” Wisnewski said. “We’re going to try to find out: Can you hold it together for one night to be indoors with us? And if you’re good to go at that level, then that’s great.”