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With frostier weather setting in throughout the Salt Lake Valley, homeless folks say they are being kicked out of The Road Home for petty offenses, a policy they say is splitting up families and forcing mothers with toddlers onto the streets.

The shelter always has had a forced-exit policy for those who violate the rules. Ousters usually last from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with offenders allowed back in the shelter for the evening. But some violators have been given 24-hour bans, forcing them to sleep in the chilly outdoors.

Several homeless people say the number of forced exits seems to be escalating, and one shelter observer says the tally of homeless forced outside recently has reached as many as 20 a day.

Violations triggering such penalties include smoking in bathrooms, keeping areas messy and fighting. The most common violation resulting in ousters, however, is failing to find an apartment in a reasonable amount of time after being approved for subsidized housing.

One homeless man says he has been trying to get into an apartment but it is difficult because he is a convicted felon and has been evicted before. He was earlier placed on an 8-5 exit but recently was slapped with a 24-hour shelter ouster.

His wife remains in the shelter, but she faces a number of medical problems. She has had one foot amputated from diabetes-related issues and recently lost toes on the other.

With her husband forced to remain outside, he says, there is nobody at the shelter to take care of her.

Another woman with an infant says she was forced out for declining to take a drug test. She says she refused because the test costs $20, and she must pay for it herself.

"I'm homeless. I don't have job and have a baby to take care of," she says. "I can't afford to pay $20."

Her mother also is homeless and was ousted. She also has health problems and recently was released from a hospital after surgery. She now is back sleeping on the grassy parking strip near the shelter.

Another mother says she was separated from her baby during her forced exit and as a result has lost her milk.

These homeless people requested that their names not be used for fear of retribution.

Road Home Executive Director Matt Minkevitch says the shelter has a policy of exiting residents for policy violations, but splitting up families is "inconsistent with what we try and do."

He says staffers go through a "very thoughtful" process before deciding to keep someone out. The shelter focuses on getting homeless people into subsidized housing and has begun moving families from The Road Home to the new facility in Midvale, which has capacity for 300 people.

"We moved 65 families, close to 200 people" to Midvale the day before Thanksgiving, he says.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker's commission on the homeless has recommended spreading the homeless around to smaller facilities throughout the valley, rather than having services so centralized in the downtown area near The Gateway mall.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams says officials will go to the Legislature for an initial $20 million appropriation to shore up services for the homeless and $7 million annually after that for operations.