Victoria city officials and social services agencies scrambled Friday to open more shelter beds and warming tents in advance of an expected snowstorm.
Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning for Greater Victoria, the Malahat Highway and large swaths of Vancouver Island.
The federal agency predicted that moisture from the Pacific Ocean would collide with the arctic cold front over the Island and produce 10 to 25 centimetres of snow beginning Friday night and continuing through this morning.
The threat of snow, combined with icy temperatures, accelerated efforts to get people indoors.
Bill Eisenhauer, Victoria’s head of engagement, said the city’s real estate department worked with the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, B.C. Housing and social service agencies to find possible locations for temporary shelters, and officials toured a number of sites on Friday morning.
The Salvation Army was among the groups that stepped up to help those in need. The agency opened its emergency cold weather shelter at the ARC Chapel on Johnson Street on Thursday night with mats for 10 people. It will remain open through to Monday, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Food and refreshments are available, and COVID-19 safety protocols are in place.
“The cold weather is especially hard on people living on the streets,” said Salvation Army spokeswoman Patricia Mamic. “Many of these people already deal with health conditions that can be worsened and even become fatal when the temperature drops drastically.”
Eisenhauer said the city’s bylaw officers were out on Friday, talking to people camping in parks or on the streets, and letting them know where they could go to get warm or find a bed indoors. They reminded people to refrain from using gas burners and heaters after a man suffered burns in a tent fire near Rock Bay Landing Wednesday night.
In Sidney, Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said town staff and the RCMP had increased their check-ins with homeless people to twice a day.
The town doesn’t have the resources to open indoor spaces, but officials were reminding people of the spaces available in Victoria, he said. “They have thus far declined leaving Sidney,” McNeil-Smith said.
The Coalition to End Homelessness reported Friday that 90 indoor spaces had been added in response to this week’s cold weather alert.
The spaces are in addition to existing shelters, drop-in centres and warming tents, the coalition said.
“We’ve had churches stepping up and organizations leaning in,” said Kelly Roth, the coalition’s executive director. “So, actually, it’s been an amazing effort.
“I’ve got to say, I’m hugely relieved that we’re going to have this many places for people to be in once the snowstorm hits.”
The Out of the Rain shelter for youth from 15 to 25 was slated to open at 7 p.m. Friday, while the Island Health Sobering Centre, 1125 Pembroke St. was expected to have mats for up to 15 people.
Kirk Hall, at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church at 680 Courtney St., opened its doors with mats for up to 20 people from Friday to Sunday night, as well as drop-in times available during the day for people to warm up and have a snack and hot drink.
Roth said it’s now just a matter of getting the word out to people about the spaces available.
“I mean, some people are really battened down and have really good shelter within their tent space, and they aren’t going to want to probably leave those spots,” she said.
“But there’s a ton of people who don’t, they’ve got flimsy shelter.”
The coalition has been regularly updating a list on its website showing the locations of indoors shelters, warming tents and drop-in centres.
You can find the list on the coalition’s website at victoriahomelessness.ca.
