A coalition of nonprofits in Marin County is stepping up to provide emergency winter shelter for homeless residents, expressing dissatisfaction with the county’s current efforts. The group, led by the Ritter Center, aims to fill gaps in the county’s severe weather emergency shelter program (SWES) by establishing their own initiative to offer refuge during inclement weather.
Mark Shotwell, chief executive officer of the Ritter Center in San Rafael, emphasized that while county officials have participated in planning meetings, they have not taken a leadership role or provided necessary resources. “This shelter is proposed to open during some rainy weather, cold weather, or heat events that do not meet SWES criteria,” Shotwell explained. The initiative is at a pilot stage, having conducted a trial activation at a church in Novato.
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) has joined forces with the Ritter Center to apply for a small grant to support the initiative. The funding would assist Adriana Rabkin, VOAD’s only staff member, who is coordinating the project. Notably, this program is intended to supplement existing services rather than replace the official emergency shelter program.
The planning team comprises various organizations, including the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, Community Action Marin, and the Bolinas Cavalry Presbyterian Church. “The motivation behind this inclement weather shelter program is to help unhoused communities in inclement weather and reduce preventable harm by providing shelter, resources, and medical and behavioral health care services directly in the communities where unhoused residents live and gather,” Rabkin stated. This approach aims to eliminate transportation and geographic barriers, particularly in Marin’s rural and coastal areas.
In a related development, Marin County supervisors recently approved a contract worth $161,534 with Episcopal Community Services to operate the county’s severe weather emergency shelter for the fiscal year 2025-26. This contract runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Gary Naja-Riese, a homelessness official with the county, clarified that this contract is part of a broader strategy to maintain services while preparing for future needs.
Currently, homeless residents are accommodated overnight at the Marin County Health and Wellness Campus located at 3240 Kerner Blvd. in San Rafael. They can enter the shelter at 17:00 and must leave by 06:00 the following day. The program provides participants with a hot dinner and a takeout breakfast, along with transportation each morning to the St. Vincent de Paul dining room at 820 B St. in San Rafael.
Activation of the emergency shelter depends on strict criteria. The shelter opens only if temperatures are forecasted to drop below an average nighttime low of 36 degrees for three consecutive days or if there are hazardous conditions such as heavy rain or high winds. These criteria were revised in 2024, lowering the threshold from 38 degrees to 36 degrees.
Kieawnie Clar, director of the Marin Interfaith Homeless Chaplaincy, expressed concern over the current criteria. “We have such extreme weather. It is either really, really cold and wet or it’s really, really hot. In both instances, people need a place to go, and it doesn’t always meet the criteria,” she said.
Despite the county maintaining the same funding for the shelter as last year, there has been a significant drop in utilization. The emergency shelter operated only twice during the 2024-25 fiscal year due to mild winter conditions. Nonetheless, San Rafael recorded over 15 inches of rain from October 1, 2024, to January 12, 2025, with temperatures dipping to 36 degrees on the last day of 2024.
In the previous fiscal year, the emergency shelter was open for 23 nights and served 357 people, averaging about 16 individuals per night. Comparatively, the rotating emergency shelter program, known as REST, which operated from 2008 until 2018, regularly accommodated as many as 60 people in a single night.
Naja-Riese clarified that SWES and REST are distinct programs with different operational criteria and should not be compared directly. Under the current emergency shelter program, community organizations contracted with the county can provide bus passes to assist homeless individuals.
According to a count conducted on January 23, 2024, Marin County had 1,090 homeless individuals, with 788 completely unsheltered. Among them, 24% were aged 55 or older, and 10% were under 18. Tragically, county health officials reported that 47 unhoused individuals died in the county last year, highlighting the critical need for comprehensive support services.
