As of Tuesday, Jan. 13, only one person has used the city of Sedona’s Cold Weather Emergency Overnight Program since the contract was finalized with Catholic Charities on Aug. 3.

The person stayed two nights local hotel at a cost of $296.64 out the total $15,000 allocation and was been entered into the Homeless Management Information System.

“Although it hasn’t been used extensively to date, we anticipate that it will be impactful as weather becomes cooler,” city of Sedona Community Development Director Tony Allender stated. “From our perspective it achieves the dual results of providing emergency assistance while intake into the larger network of services [that] offers the hope of long term solutions.”

The program provides rapid emergency shelter for Sedona’s homeless when the overnight low drops “Below-freezing temperatures, especially if accompanied by precipitation,” or when conditions “may be hazardous for elderly persons or those with medical conditions — e.g., 35°F or lower for elderly, serious cardiac issues, etc.,” or “If internal heating is not adequate to mitigate extreme temperatures,” for people living out of their vehicles, according to the Sedona Police Department’s definition of “Cold Inclement Weather” used for the program.

“These examples are not exhaustive,” the SPD protocol reads. “Officers must use their discretion, considering the totality of circumstances — weather conditions, individual vulnerability, available resources, etc.”

Homeless people enter the hotel program when encountered by SPD officers during cold weather patrols. The individuals must be sober, non-aggressive and not experiencing a mental health crisis. Officers verify their identity and conduct a warrant check before transporting them to a participating hotel.

Participants are required to sign a code of conduct that includes among its provisions: SPD must accompany them to the hotel; the use and possession of drugs and alcohol is prohibited, including medical marijuana; they are not carrying weapons; and they must voluntarily consent to be searched by SPD prior to check-in.

“It has to work both ways,” Allender said. “We want to provide a safe haven at the same time and we want to respect that the hotels are there as a business.”

Participating Hotels

Six local hotels are currently part of the program, although Allender said Community Development does not actually know the names of the participating hotels claiming “that is integral to the program.”

“The anonymity of the hotels is what allows them to comfortably be a part of the program,” Allender said. “Whenever I have been given the opportunity to know the names, I have very specifically said, ‘No, that it’s not in their interest or my interest to know.'”

Allender could not answer how he will maintain accountability without knowing participating hotels.

“It may very well be that through the process of coordination with Catholic Charities, there comes a time where we do have to know the names, but that’s something we’ll have to coordinate with them,” Allender said. “Because this program and my coordination with this service and this organization is new. Then it’s something I’m going to have to work through with them to make sure that we do have accountability and transparency to the absolute extent we can have it.”

Police “dispatch will maintain the list of participating lodging businesses and check [room] availability upon officer request,” SPD protocol reads.

Previous Program

The $15,000 in funding is essentially the same funds originally allocated to the Sedona Area Homeless Alliance as part of the 2023 Small Grants Program to give hotel rooms to the homeless on cold nights with its Code Blue program.

However, following an audit of SAHA in September 2023 by Small Grant Committee Chairwoman Stephanie Giesbrecht, the city rescinded its award to SAHA.

While the city’s audit showed no inappropriate use of monies by SAHA, the audit did find poor bookkeeping. SAHA’s failure to submit its annual report to the Arizona Corporation Commission led to it temporarily losing its operating name, and it was delinquent in filing its mandatory annual Form 990 with the IRS for three consecutive years.

According to the city’s audit, SAHA booked rooms in three different local hotels for the homeless solely under the name of Laurie Moore, SAHA’s co-founder.

Drug use occurred in two of the three hotels according to the audit, with the third hotel not responding to requests for comment.

“On numerous occasions the police were called and guests had to be escorted off the premises due to drug use, smoking, violations of property rules, fighting, etc,” the city audit reads. Moore has denied the allegations.

“As a result of those findings, the city will be unable to award the $15,000 SAHA was otherwise slated to receive for FY24,” Former City Manager Karen Osburn informed SAHA in an Oct. 2, 2023 email. “We will plan to use those funds to shelter homeless persons this winter through our own housing department, so the intent of allocating those funds for cold weather shelter will still be fulfilled.”

Shortly before she was terminated, former city Housing Manager Shannon Boone stated in March 2024 that she had been unable to set up the program because she could not find a printer to print the vouchers.

New Adjustments

“I would not even be able to know what that meant, to be quite honest,” Allender said. “Because no, we don’t need a printer to operate that program.”

The program with Catholic Charities was approved by the City Council on Jan. 29, 2025, “but it often takes several months to get an agreement in place and implemented,” Allender stated.

Some 30% of the program’s funding can go toward Catholic Charities overhead, but so far because only one person has used it, Allender said he wasn’t ready to comment on the administrative cost.

According to “Catholic Charities, the weather up until this last week has been relatively mild so use of the program has been limited,” Allender wrote. “We do expect for the rest of January, February and into March to have some cold nights that will use these funds for assistance.”