Sleeping in a stairwell when Seattle shelters are full

Last week, King County officials activated four severe weather shelters in Seattle for homeless people to sleep inside. With those shelters set to close Wednesday, many people are trying to find someplace to get out of the cold.

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority activated the severe weather shelters last Thursday when nighttime temperatures started to drop near freezing.

When he heard that shelter beds were available overnight in Seattle, Carlos Faas, 54, hurried to the Salvation Army in SoDo.

“Check in at 7, and I just went to bed,” Faas said on Tuesday afternoon.

RELATED: Seattle offers places to shelter during cold nights ahead

But like most temporary shelters, Faas was only guaranteed the bed for one night.

“The next day, I brought another person with me. It was cold, and we're going back,” he said. “There was not that many people there — and they say it was full.”

When he got turned away from the Salvation Army, it was already cold, dark, and too late to go check availability at the other three shelters. So, Faas and others found refuge in the stairwell of a parking garage.

During past cold snaps, he’s gone to Seattle City Hall when it was activated as a shelter. Faas said he likes that it’s located downtown, and he’s always felt safe sleeping there. But that wasn’t an option this time: City Hall was not open overnight this week.

Every winter in Seattle, tens of thousands of people without stable housing struggle to stay warm at night. At least seven homeless people in King County died in January due to exposure and hypothermia.

RELATED: At least 5 people in Seattle died from hypothermia during the extreme cold

Faas said he has slept in the parking garage stairwell before, in a pinch. There’s usually at least two other people also sleeping there, he said.

“Sometimes seven, eight, usually no more than ten people,” he said. “It's heated there in the stairwell. Only warm place in town you can go.”

The Authority might reactive shelters Wednesday if the weather worsens.