By H. Wicai, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Even before the latest cold snap - space in a homeless shelter in the St. Louis area had been tough to find. Director of the Housing Resource Center, Katrina Knight, says in the last year demand for homeless shelters has increased by 25-percent. And in the last 18 months, two shelters in St. Louis County have closed. Knight says that means the area has lost more than 100 shelter beds.
Last year The Housing Resource Center received 23,000 housing crisis calls. When it's this cold Knight says the number of calls spikes at least another 10-percent.