Calgary homeless shelters see a jump in usage

Homeless organizations in Calgary are reporting a large jump in people using their shelters compared to the same time last year.

Myron Krause, executive director of the Mustard Seed, said after three years of seeing less clients, numbers are up and in a big way.

"We are all working together, trying to understand, where are the people coming from?"

He said they are seeing 45 per cent more people compared to last June.

Inn from the Cold spokeswoman Bonnie Elgie said she’s noticed a similar trend.

"Our shelter is full and we're having to go back and put families into churches," Elgie said.

Earlier this year, some homeless organizations in Calgary cautioned those interested in moving to the city to come prepared.

Canada Mortgage and Housing estimated at the time that a person needs to be making about $36,000 a year to rent a one bedroom apartment.

The city’s homeless foundation says it needs to keep repeating that message.

"We've been putting a very strong emphasis on re-housing people and trying to get them into homes of their own and to see the trend climbing in the shelters, we really need to understand that better," Krause said.