Frigid temperatures highlight need for support as many are forced into the dangerous cold

Guelph's city hall will stay open overnight to give people a place to escape the cold, a move advocates want to see in Waterloo Region. Hannah Schmidt reports.

Advocates worry lives are on the line as shelter spaces dwindle among dangerously cold conditions.

An extreme cold warning has been extended for parts of southwestern Ontario as people in Waterloo Region brace for nighttime temperatures feeling like -27 Celsius Tuesday night.

It’s the kind of cold that comes not only with the risk of severe frostbite, but also with potentially deadly consequences.

According to Health Canada, if a person’s body temperature drops below 32 degrees Celsius they can be at risk of dying.

“The reality that we see at St. John’s Kitchen is at least 250 people who don’t have a place to go every night. That means they have to find some means to survive. Some are in encampments, some are couch surfing, some are in business doorways, some are using the Tim Hortons as long as they can. The reality is that there’s a very large number of people without any access to shelter,” said Joe Mancini, The Working Centre’s founder.

For many, there’s no respite from the bitter cold as finding a warm place to spend the night can be nearly impossible.

“Presently, The Working Centre shelters are full. We’re letting in more people beyond the full number in these situations, but you can only go so far in those. All the spaces are full that we understand are available. Last night I heard of a person at [the emergency department] all night. That becomes the shelter,” Mancini explained.

The Working Centre is not the only place facing an overwhelming level of demand.

“We’ve heard stories of women at the 84 Frederick Shelter taking turns, like, ‘Okay, you go in tonight and I’ll get to go in tomorrow night,” community advocate Jamie Stief told CTV News.

The struggle to find a safe place to escape the elements is nothing new. According to the latest Point-In-Time Count completed in October, there were at least 2,371 people in Waterloo Region experiencing homelessness.

Meanwhile, there are only a few hundred shelter beds available throughout the region.

“The Working Centre is advocating that the region needs to add more shelter spaces. Small warming spaces for 20 people are not what is necessary,” Mancini said. “We need, just like the King Street shelter, which the region is threatening to close down, which is housing 100 people right now. If that shelter wasn’t there, that would be 100 more people out on the streets.”

The region plans on closing the King Street shelter at the end of March.

“It’s really tough watching people who are genuinely struggling competing for such scarce resources,” Stief said.

For Mancini and other people at The Working Centre, having to turn people away is having an emotional toll as they reach their capacity to help.

“As we close at 4 or 5 o’clock, people are going out into the cold. That’s a deep reality. That reality’s been there for a long time, but in a crisis, where there’s so many people without access - people feel it. You just feel it and you know that it’s just so wrong.”

The Guelph approach

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Guelph, the city is taking another approach by opening city hall as a temporary warming centre.

On Monday the city announced they would be keeping the front lobby open through the night on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to try to keep people safe. City hall will be open for anyone who needs a safe place to stay from 4:30 p.m. until 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

“Last night, I don’t have entire numbers, but we’ve seen around 20 to 30 people coming in to use the shelter throughout the night,” Eric Lucko, community emergency management coordinator with the City of Guelph, told CTV News on Tuesday.

“We’re prepared for this and we’re having those discussions with our executive team and our operations department to make sure that we’re ready for this,” he said.

It’s an idea with some appeal for Mancini.

“We need more permanent solutions. It would be a good idea, but it takes a lot of resources. The Working Centre has done this many times, opening up emergency shelter spaces. You can get very tired by doing this work because it takes a lot of resources to make something like that happen in a city. A city has the resources to do that. A community centre or a city hall, and even the Region of Waterloo – the main office – these are very obvious examples of what needs to be done to deal with this reality.”

Meanwhile, the region said they are trying to address the issue.

“The Region works with partners across the community to address the great need, using every resource and space available to us. This includes warming spaces available across the region, including at regional buildings 150 Frederick St., Kitchener and 150 Main St., in Cambridge. A new overnight warming centre in Kitchener opened on Friday night and an additional centre will be opening in Cambridge soon. Outreach staff are connecting with those trying to survive outside to connect them to services. We also support our shelter partners to provide additional beds where possible and winter warming supplies,” the Region of Waterloo wrote, in part, in an email.

They also said overnight warming spaces were marked as a priority through the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.