The key register at the South Welcome House gives each family room a number and each waiting household a place in line. It does not have a field for relatives who arrive on separate caravans. In one recent case, a parent and two children were entered first; another child, delayed on the ridge road, received a later date and a separate place.
The housing office says the list is designed to record when a room was requested, not to judge whether a household belongs together. That distinction becomes difficult when a temporary bed expires before the second entry reaches the same place in the queue.
Housing advocate Bera Noll brought the key register and waiting list to the table. The dates match the gate entries. The gap is in the form: it can record a room request and a household size, but not why the size changed or whether another arrival is expected.
The housing table will compare waits by household size as well as by arrival order. That will not guarantee a family room or move anyone ahead without a public rule. It will show whether the current list is measuring one household’s wait or the separate journeys of its members.
