423 people used the city of Austin's overnight cold weather shelters Thursday

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As rain and cold mixed Thursday night, the city of Austin said 423 people chose to utilize the city's overnight cold weather shelters.

"That's a pretty big number. Last year, when we had the arctic blast, where we had four or five days in a row with 24-hour shelters, we did get over 500 but this was a pretty large number last night," said Greg McCormack, program manager with the city of Austin's Homeless Strategy Office.

The high usage comes shortly after the city of Austin changed several of its policies surrounding overnight cold weather shelters, including notifying people of activation sooner. The city made those changes this winter.

"I think we've really improved and intensified our communication methods, making sure that everybody who is outside during this dangerous cold time knows that we are activating (the) cold weather shelter, can plan for it, and knows that they can come in and be safe for the night," McCormack said.

How to get overnight shelter

The overnight cold weather shelters are open Friday night as well.

"We'll continue to monitor the weather this week. We're still in this cold spell. We're active tonight. It's going to be very cold tonight. I hope as many individuals that want to come in tonight...and then we'll be looking at it the next few days and activate as the weather dictates," McCormack said.

Registration to stay at the shelters will occur each day between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at One Texas Center, located at 505 Barton Springs Road. People are then transported to city of Austin recreation centers for shelter.

Bus routes to the One Texas Center are lines: 1, 7, 10, 20, 30, 105, 142 and 801. The city said those needing a ride to a cold-weather shelter without a way to pay will still be given a ride.

For more information about using a cold-weather shelter, you can find guidelines here or call the cold-weather hotline at 512-972-5055.