Winter Shelter · 2025–2026 season

End of Season Report

What Durham’s winter shelter system did between November 15, 2025 and March 15, 2026 — the nights called, the beds filled, the neighbors served, and what will change next winter.

City of Durham · Durham County · Durham Community Safety Department

Presented to the Homeless Services Advisory Committee on May 20, 2026. The stated aim of the season was plain: a warm, safe place to sleep on cold nights.

The season in numbers

White Flag opens when the overnight low is at or below 32 degrees, or at or below 35 with rain or snow. Ten eligible nights were not called — conditions were met but the forecast did not predict them or the call was not made. On White Flag nights, an average of 36 additional people were sheltered.

Of the 391 neighbors served, 265 were single adults and 126 were in families. The median Housing Barriers Assessment score was 19, and the average total stay was 7.9 days. About half were active in case conferencing, though fewer than one in ten were currently engaged.

The winter storm

A ten-day emergency stretch in late January drove the season’s peak: capacity rose to 124 beds and utilization to 109 on January 29. Across that response, 167 neighbors were served, with more than 20 non-congregate rooms for families and medically vulnerable neighbors, 24-7 shelter space for ten days, coordination with the County Mass Care Shelter and EOC, and 110 volunteers recruited — 26 of whom were activated.

Coordination

The season ran on four pieces of infrastructure: a designated coordinator, an after-hours White Flag triage line, weekly check-in meetings among partners, and a communications strategy. The triage line took 146 calls, roughly a fifth of them from other first responders and another fifth redirected elsewhere. Most survey respondents — 39 of 47 — agreed that information about shelter availability and operating schedules was clear and readily available. On whether the City and County did enough for people living on the street during extreme weather, 28 agreed, 13 neither agreed nor disagreed, and 6 disagreed.

What changes next winter

• Better data infrastructure in HMIS and CAD, a neighbor feedback mechanism built into daily operations, and embedded case management to improve housing outcomes
• More beds available every night, including non-congregate family shelter options
• A dedicated response, driven by healthcare systems, for neighbors ineligible for shelter because of mobility or ADL limitations
• A system-wide emergency response plan with the staffing to expand rapidly during weather emergencies
• Continued work with the 100 Days of Warmth campaign

A fuller summary report to HSAC follows, with a comprehensive data share-out, learnings from planning, operations, storm response, and mid-season expansion, and recommendations for process improvements. Planning for the fall 2026 season is underway.