Denton's community shelter kept its extra overnight space open for 66 days in a row this summer, the longest unbroken stretch of heat operations since the shelter opened in 2021, according to the city manager's Friday report to the City Council.
The Denton Community Shelter, run by Our Daily Bread, expanded capacity under the city's inclement weather policy from July 18 through Sept. 21. That policy opens the extra beds for overnight cooling when the National Weather Service's HeatRisk scale reaches the major or extreme level.
Who came in
On an average night, 55 people used the added space. The busiest night was Aug. 22, when 83 people stayed.
Over the full stretch, the shelter recorded 353 different people, ranging in age from 19 to 83, with an average age of 44. Of those, 119, or about 34%, were entering Denton County's Housing Crisis Response System for the first time, the report said.
On 10 days, Our Daily Bread opened the extra space even though the city's policy did not require it, because the heat index topped 100 degrees on days rated only moderate on the HeatRisk scale.
The report did not say what the extended operation cost.
