PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Parts of the Sunshine State are covered in snow but South Florida has had a couple of weeks of rainy weather and chilly temperatures.
It's a situation that is proving to be a challenge for people without a place to call home.
"It's freezing, we're freezing and there's nothing there to keep us warm," said Lina Saintilien, who said she escaped a domestic violence situation and then lost her job forcing her onto the streets for the last six months.
What a Palm Beach County commissioner is saying about opening warming shelters
"It's very difficult sometimes when you gotta take a shower or food it's really difficult," said Saintlien. "There's a lot of bad things, I'm very afraid at night that someone might break my car window with my son in there."
Saintlien said she's staying strong for her son, who wants to be an engineer when he grows up.
"My dream is to get out of this situation that we're in right now and in a proper home where I can care for my son," said Saintlien. "Even though I know that we're going through a situation, I don't want him to feel that I'm weak enough not to help him build up."
In the latest Point in Time Count, 2,126 people that are homeless in Palm Beach County, a number that has gone up over the last three years.
"It's really tough, because when you see your kids wrapped up in a blanket sleeping on the floor, it's hard," said Dallas Diadem.
He has a wife and three kids ages 7, 13 and 17.
Lina Saintilien talks about how hard it is being homeless
Diadem said his family fell into homelessness after he said he had a series of medical issues, including kidney failure, a heart attack and five strokes.
In that time, his wife also lost her job.
He said they were living in their car but that it broke down.
Thanks to donations they've been able to stay in a hotel.
"It's dwindling, now. In a few days we're going to be back on the streets again and it's really hard," said Diadem.
According to Palm Beach County, cold weather shelters are only activated when forecasted temperatures fall below 40˚F and/or 45˚F during forecast precipitation and/or the wind chill factor is 35˚F for periods of four consecutive hours.
WPTV did some digging into the low temperatures and found that last year West Palm Beach had 11 days at or below 50 degrees but never went below 40.
However, Palm Beach Gardens had 18 days at or below 50 and two days below 40 degrees.
Dallas Diadem shares how he and his family are struggling
"Right now, I think we've seen some severe weather, and we really have to take care of these people," said Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores. "We have to do better."
Flores is suggesting shelters in Palm Beach County open at least 50 degrees, not 40 like policy states.
"As you can see today it's only around 60, 64 degrees and I'm freezing," said Flores.
We looked into policies in neighboring counties and learned that Martin County activates it's cold weather shelters at 40 degrees or lower for four hours or more overnight.
Cold weather shelters in Broward County open if the ambient temperature falls below 45 degrees.
Miami-Dade County cold weather shelters open if the weather is 50 degrees or below with or without wind-chill.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores tells WPTV how the county is dealing with the issue
During a county commission meeting last week, Palm Beach County Staff said the county does not operate the shelters but works with nonprofits and help staff them when they're activated.
"The Red Cross brings in food and then county employees run the shelter and we're there all night," said Wendy Tippett, the Human Services & Community Action Co-Chair for the County. "I can tell you almost every year we open the Belle Glade one and every year we have like one or two people, so in order not to pull my staff out and send them out for one or two people we shifted them over to the emergency shelter in Pahokee or in Belle Glade, whichever has openings."
Staff said they will look into the cost of operation and demand for shelters.
Flores said commissioners have a workshop next week in which he plans to bring up shelter openings.
"We're still waiting on the numbers," said Flores, "but I'm still committed to making sure that we get that data and that we have that discussion with my fellow county commission."
