PEORIA — Local homeless shelters are full as men, women and children come in from the bitter cold to get a meal or a warm bed.

But officials at three Peoria shelters say the recent snap isn't driving more people. Rather, it's the normal flow of people every winter.

"They know they can come in, get a bite to eat and get out of the cold," said Rich Draeger, the Salvation Army's development director, of the organization's shelter for men, which is just north of Downtown.

He said that lunchtime has been busy in the past few days. The same goes for the Rescue Mission, which is near Dozer Park and the Peoria Police Station. Lee Burnham, the mission's director, said they have been steady with about 50 men. The Rescue Mission, like the Salvation Army's Safety Net shelter, serves only men. The Salvation Army does have a Family Service Center, which allows it to take in women and children. That, Draeger said, is full year-round.

A few blocks away, at Dream Center Peoria, 714 Hamilton Blvd., Kristy Schofield, who heads the organization's housing and homeless shelter, said they are full with close to 70 people staying at the shelter each night. That's way up from last year when the building's shelter on the third floor held less than half that amount. But Schofield said the big increase occurred not in the past week but in August, when the center became a 24-hour shelter, open seven days a week. The Dream Center shelter is open to women, children and parenting fathers.

"We'll never turn anyone away, but we were full. We just bought 30 cots so we can hold up to 90 now. We have had people on the floor and in the hallways," said Schofield. She was homeless for two years in the mid-1990s, the result of a bad relationship that sent her and her children from Indiana to Peoria.

And indeed, the third floor was full of people Wednesday. Children were playing in the hallway. Others were on their electronic devices. Some people were watching TV. At Safety Net, men were sitting at various tables. A TV was on while people read magazines or the newspaper.

Burnham said the winter normally brings in more people, but he hasn't seen a large influx due to the weather. Schofield agreed, saying numbers from December are very similar to what they are seeing now. If anything, Burnham said, more are hanging out in the shelters rather than walking around outside. Plus, he said, the recent holiday closed some places, like the Peoria Public Library, that normally offer some respite to the homeless.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.