BUTTE — With below zero temperatures moving in, those without homes are looking for a place to stay to keep warm. That’s where the low barrier shelter comes in.
At the Butte Rescue Mission Center of Hope, rooms are available for those who have nowhere to go.
"We have 17 beds in this facility. Half are men and half are women so 17 people can be here. If our beds are full, we can allow two people per table to rest their heads at night if we don’t have any beds available." said Misty Johnson, Operations Manager at Butte Rescue Mission Center of Hope.
The Butte-Silver Bow Police do help bring people to the shelter with nowhere to go but if the shelter doesn’t have enough room or won’t let them in due to prior issues, the detention center will.
"We bring them into our detention center and put them in there for safekeeping basically and then they will get out the next day after we’ve given them a good meal and clean them up," said George Skuletich, the Butte-Silver Bow Undersheriff.
According to Skuletich, they have been busy on that aspect.
"We have been taking, I would assume, one to two each day that are put in for protective custody which means they either have mental health issues that we need to get an evaluation done on them or that they are unable to take care of themselves when it’s this cold," said Skuletich.
