As a blast or arctic air brings frigid temperatures to Winnipeg, shelters in the city are collaborating to ensure people living on the street don’t slip through the cracks.
Warren Hudson spends most of his days walking around the city’s downtown to stay warm, and told CTV News a cold snap would mean he’d have to map out how he spends each hour.
“Sometimes you’ve got to go in to warm up at a place, sometimes you stick it out,” said Hudson.
Hudson explained that his first priority was finding a place to sleep at night.
It’s a common worry according to Mark Stewart, the shelter services coordinator at the Salvation Army’s Booth Centre.
Stewart told CTV News shelter staff would keep the lines of communications open, to ensure people were redirected to other centres when necessary.
“The emergency shelters are collaborating to make sure that nobody’s stuck out in the cold,” said Stewart.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army’s cold weather response team has been in action all but two nights since the beginning of November, working until morning to hand out blankets, warm clothing, and coffee to people on the street.
The team also transports people in need to shelters: a task that’s recently been helped by a technological advancement.
Software used to coordinate and keep track of shelter space around the city recently went mobile, allowing workers to check community members into shelters from the road.
“Maybe there’s a warning on the system that a person is missing,” said Stewart.
“So we’ll know if they’re missing right away and we can call police if we need to.”
The Siloam Mission also told CTV that increasing demand accompanied the bitter temperatures; the shelter provides beds to 110 people on a nightly basis.
According to Siloam Mission CEO Jim Bell, the shelter’s sleeping area is at capacity every night.
“We do have waiting lists every night that can range from 20, 30, 40 people,” said Bell.
Both Siloam Mission and Booth Centre officials said the shelters are always in need of donations of warm clothing including long underwear and gloves.
