Why are homeless Londoners sleeping outdoors during cold weather alert?

As overnight temperatures plunge, Sam Trosow is preparing to ask city staff about the municipality’s efforts for homeless people. Daryl Newcombe reports.

As overnight temperatures plunge dangerously low, Coun. Sam Trosow is preparing to ask city staff about the municipality’s efforts to get homeless Londoners out of the cold.

“I want to give staff the opportunity to talk to city council about this,” Trosow told CTV News. “I have been reading accounts from other cities, and it does seem to me as if some of the other cities are being more proactive in terms of the services that they’re providing.”

He intends to ask several questions during the Enquiries portion of Tuesday’s council meeting:

• What’s the status of warming centres in London?
• What are their hours of operation/ locations/ capacity?
• What is the threshold temperature when these services are provided?

Trosow is worried about the consequences of leaving people outside during a cold weather alert, “If you’re not in a tent with some heat and you’re just out on the street trying to find an alcove to sleep in, you could freeze to death.”

On Monday night, CTV News discovered many people spending the night outdoors in downtown London.

“I’m just going to go to cover my ears and try and avoid the cold winds. The winds are significantly colder in some spots than others,” Alexei, 22, explained with ice in his beard.

Other Londoners wrap themselves in blankets as they lay on the sidewalk.

Walking home through downtown, Anna Antone has seen enough people suffering in the cold to conclude that city hall isn’t doing enough this week.

“I know there’s homeless people and they have nowhere to go,” Antone said. ”I wish the people on [city] council would actually get something going because they have all these empty buildings, they have all this money that they could use.”

The cold weather alert issued by the Middlesex-London Health Unit continues on Tuesday.

The health unit issues cold weather alerts when any of the following conditions are met:

• Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasts a low temperature of –15°C or lower
• Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasts a wind chill of -20°C or lower, or if
• Environment and Climate Change Canada issues a “Cold Alert” or “Cold Warning.”