As winter sets in along the Wasatch Front, makeshift shelters are torn down near the Rio Grande and new areas, like the Airport Inn, crop up as an alternative for those who live on the streets of Salt Lake City. (Photo: screen grab, KSLTV)
SALT LAKE CITY — It took a zoning change on Friday afternoon by the Salt Lake City Council, but soon a new temporary homeless shelter will be available downtown.
According to our news partners at KSLTV, the change was made to the area of land occupied by the Airport Inn Hotel, 2333 W. North Temple.
The owner of the Airport Inn Hotel is renovating the building but it will be available for use by Salt Lake City by January 1 according to Jean Hill, of the Salt Lake Valley Commission to End Homelessness.
Earlier in the day, a makeshift homeless camp near the Rio Grande area of Salt Lake City, 500 W. and 400 South was cleared out due to health concerns by the Utah Department of Health and Salt Lake City police.
Some of the people who spoke with our news partners at KSLTV said they made go to the Airport Inn when it becomes available. But they also said they do not understand why police and others were taking “nothing from nothing,” by clearing out their camp.