The morning after Birmingham's coldest night of winter thus far, the Bernie Sanders campaign deflected blame for the closure of the city's temporary homeless warming shelter.

On Monday night, a Sanders rally was held at Boutwell Auditorium, which is used as a warming station for the city's homeless when temperatures drop abnormally.

Kelvin Datcher, state director for the Sanders campaign, said Tuesday morning that the city of Birmingham never informed the campaign their Monday rally - which was planned in less than a week - would close the warming station.

"We had no clue. I don't think anybody can say the Sanders campaign impacted the warming station," Datcher said. "We had no contact with the city at all about the warming station beforehand. Not only did (Sanders) not know, I didn't even know."

Don Lupo, the Birmingham mayor's office of citizen's assistance director who facilitates the opening of the Boutwell warming station, said city officials take two factors into consideration when determining whether to open the Boutwell warming station. First, they check forecasts for consecutive nights of below-freezing temperatures. Second, they check the availability of the venue.

Last week, Lupo said the city learned of the venue's schedule, checked the forecast and determined not to open the auditorium this week.

The backup plan in place for the city's homeless when Boutwell is rented is to open the city's existing, permanent shelters to more people, Lupo said. Firehouse Shelter, First Light and the Birmingham Salvation Army were used as emergency shelters Monday night.

"The warming center is not a shelter, it's a stop-gap measure," Lupo said. "We do everything we can possibly do to take a little burden off the shelters. We open Boutwell when we can, and it wasn't available last night. People are pointing fingers at Bernie Sanders and the SCLC, but it could have been anything at Boutwell last night that could have caused this."

Lupo said that to his knowledge, no homeless person in the city was injured or killed Monday night or Tuesday morning because of cold weather exposure.

Firehouse Shelter Executive Director Anne Wright said Tuesday morning that volunteers from multiple shelters drove around the city Monday afternoon and evening, passing out jackets and blankets for those who needed them. Volunteers did not see any homeless in any city parks or on the streets Monday night, Wright said.

Firehouse Shelter, which regularly sleeps 50 homeless people, slept 83 people Monday night to compensate for the Boutwell warming station's closure.

Two events were held Monday at Boutwell Auditorium: the Sanders rally at 7 p.m. and a Southern Christian Leadership Conference banquet at 3 p.m. The Sanders rally was held in the main auditorium downstairs and ended around 9 p.m. The SCLC banquet was held in the upstairs room and ended at 6 p.m.

Odom, the city spokeswoman, said the city regularly uses both floors for the warming station, depending on the venue's availability.

Datcher, who is from Birmingham and said he has volunteered at the Boutwell warming station, said the upstairs room has been used for the warming station for the past few months.

"I knew last week that the city used the warming station upstairs, but not downstairs," Datcher said. "We had no idea that the warming station would be closed. We were downstairs, they would be upstairs. That's what we knew."

In the interview with AL.com on Tuesday afternoon and on his Facebook page Monday night, Lupo discussed the need for more resources citywide and year-round to deal with homelessness.

"There is no one to be mad at," Lupo wrote. "SCLC had (an) event there in the late afternoon and there was a Bernie Sanders rally there tonight -- so Boutwell was not available on the coldest night we've had in a few years -- being mad with the SCLC or Senator Sanders doesn't get us anywhere."

Three speakers introduced Sanders at the rally Monday night: Birmingham City Council President Johnathan Austin, Birmingham city councilman Steven Hoyt and Kim Meadows Clark, who is a full-time employee at Firehouse Shelter.

Datcher said he wishes the campaign had been contacted by the city, and the campaign would have ensured the city's homeless were taken care of Monday night.

"We're obviously committed to these issues," Datcher said. "We could've rallied 200-300 folks to run upstairs to put up cots after the banquet upstairs. We would've asked our supporters to bring supplies for the upstairs. It could have been a great partnership to help folks who are struggling a bit, and now it's just frustrating."

Edited at 3:10 p.m. to add comments from Don Lupo.