Cold snap, tough times raise demand at homeless shelters

The cold weather gripping B.C. is expected to push more street people toward homeless shelters, particularly across the Lower Mainland where demand for beds or mats is already up due to the economic slowdown.

Demand at homeless shelters around Greater Vancouver jumps at least 20 per cent when the temperature goes below freezing, and the economic situation this year is making things worse, according to Scott Small, the manager of the Catholic Charities Men's Hostel in Vancouver.

"Certainly, the economy this year is having an impact,'' Small said.

Jail beats the streets

Rod Johnson, who spent six months lining up for a nightly bed at the hostel on Cambie Street before he got a permanent bed, said he wouldn't survive if he had to sleep outside in below-zero weather.

"You'll die in these temperatures, there is no doubt in my mind. You got to be indoors," said Johnson.

"I'm 53 years old. I couldn't do a day. I'm scared to death that if I ever lost this bed, I'd probably go out and do a crime and go to jail because it is warmer in jail than it is outside. I couldn't do it. I'm too old," said Johnson.

Small said he hates turning people away, but there are only so many beds. "It's never easy, even when it's good weather."

Temporary shelters help

But some positive changes in recent years have created more cold-weather shelter spaces for the homeless.

"The good thing is now that we have not only an increased awareness, we have a lot of increased action going on provincially as well as around here in the Vancouver area," said Small.

Shelters are getting better at referring clients to each other, and more shelters are staying open 24 hours a day, said Smith.

In addition, under the cold/wet weather strategy and extreme weather response organized by the Greater Vancouver regional steering committee on homelessness, some shelters lay out extra mattresses on spare floor space and other temporary shelters are opened up when temperatures drop below freezing.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has also promised to make reducing homelessness his No. 1 priority, starting with opening new temporary shelters this winter.

The weather is also making life more difficult for homeless people in the B.C. Interior.

Jacqueline Larson said she spends her evenings looking for a place to stay  warm.

"I slept outside behind cardboard and a couple of sheets of plywood," she said, sipping coffee at the Kelowna drop-in centre. "I have a long history of getting pneumonia and my body couldn't handle pneumonia this winter."

Selena Sterns, who runs the drop-in centre, said she is worried that Larson and other people in her situation will huddle for warmth near electrical transformers.

"There is a little bit of heat in those boxes, so it's a place of warmth for people who are struggling," she said, "but it's also dangerous.… People have had electrical shocks, electrical burns from falling asleep behind them."