City of Vancouver opens 2 community centres overnight as emergency warming spaces
Cold snap, more snow, expected in Metro Vancouver until Monday
The City of Vancouver says it's opening up new emergency overnight spaces for people to protect themselves from a cold snap expected to last until Monday.
The Creekside Community Centre at Olympic Village and the Britannia Community Centre on Commercial Drive will be open overnight on both Saturday and Sunday until 7 a.m. PT, with support from staff and volunteers.
"The permanent and temporary shelters in Vancouver are at capacity and turning people away, and we need to take further steps to help keep people safe during the cold weather," said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a written statement.
"The city and park board are working closely to do what we can, with the resources we have, to step in and help our most vulnerable residents who have no place to go."
The city says there will not be any beds or cots set up, but people with their own bedding will be able to bring it in. Hot drinks and water will be provided.
Henry McKellar is a binner who stopped in at the Creekside Community Centre Saturday night to grab a coffee and take a shower. He says it provided a much needed escape from the cold weather.
He collects bottles and recycles them to make money to survive.
"In the 16 years I've been homeless, this is the worst," he said.
"After the rain and then the cold wind … I deeply appreciate it for sure."
Yesterday DJ Larkin, a staff lawyer at Pivot Legal Society, called on the city to open up community centres and create heating centres where people can get warm and dry.
Pivot & <a href="https://twitter.com/MegaphoneMag">@MegaphoneMag</a> have called on the city to open more shelter/heating centres. They are listening. Britannia/Creekside open tonight!
—@pivotlegalPark Board Chair Michael Wiebe said this is the first year the City and the Park Board have used community centres as emergency shelter spaces and he hopes it can happen in the future with more planning.
"Obviously this is a last minute thing that happened today," he said.
"It's great to see that the City and the Park Board is coming together with our community centres."
Friday morning, a 51-year old homeless woman in Chilliwack, B.C., died after a build-up of snow caused her tent to collapse.
And the B.C. Coroners Service is currently investigating two deaths in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region and another in the upper Fraser Valley that may have been caused by the cold weather.
According to the city, there are 956 permanent shelter beds in Vancouver and up to 429 additional beds can be made available.
Anyone looking for space can call 211 to see where one may be available.
With files from Gian-Paolo Mendoza