To prepare for dropping temperatures, homeless shelters are utilizing all resources to keep people warm and off the streets.

The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless has its emergency overflow shelter plan in place to handle the demand.

The downtown center on Seventh Street can sleep 215 people on a mix of bunks and mats. The majority of those spaces are given to case management clients and those with medical needs.

The ARCH then coordinates with the Salvation Army, Cap Metro and the city to bus overflow crowds to auxiliary sites. Once churches and partner locations fill up, the city's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management notifies the Parks and Recreation Department to prepare area recreational centers to be used as shelter.

The number of extra people reached a season record of 148 Monday night.

"Last year [the] largest number was about 130, so Austin is growing. The economy is probably causing a few more people to be on the streets, and as it gets colder, we expect the demand for our emergency overnight shelter to be even greater," ARCH Interim Executive Director Mike Abkowitz said.

Given the forecast, Abkowitz said he is prepared to have the emergency overflow shelter plan in place through Thursday night.