What happens if fire breaks out during services?
The building seems adequate to hold a lot of sitting people during a worship service. Until the number of shelterees gets up near the number of members in attendance, fire safety should already be good.
I think the issue comes more with sanitation. I suspect restrooms are inadequate for overnight stays but OK for two hour visits.
Don't get me wrong here -- I am not in favor of churches providing shelter for the homeless unless it is in a separate, well managed building. There are just too many bad things that can happen when a church gathers up a significant number of mentally challenged drug addicts and gives them free run of the place.
Everybody would be dressed and ready to leave the building. They wouldn't have to navigate around cots, sleeping bags, backpacks or other obstacles on the floor. They would be sober and able to quickly follow instructions to evacuate. It would, for the most part, be their regular church so they would know where the closest exit was and alternatives if that one was blocked.
There are probably a few more good reasons why it would be different but that was just off the top of my head.
I also thought of the restroom situation. The exits may be adequate and I just used that as an example that often need to be changed when an occupancy changes.
I agree about the bad things that can happen and I wonder how the church’s insurance carrier feels about them operating a shelter.