Winnipeg shelters preparing for cold weather response

Shelters in Winnipeg providing meals and places to stay for those experiencing homelessness are getting ready for winter.

This includes Siloam Mission, which is changing over its drop-in centre into a pop-up space for people to get out of the cold at night.

"About 40 folks are going to be able to access actually a cot and have an overnight sleep,” said Siloam Mission’s CEO Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud.

“And then everybody else will be an overflow in more of an awake space for sitting up at tables. There'll be hot chocolate and snacks.”

Siloam Mission did something similar last year, which on an average night helped 24 people get out of the cold.

The pop-up warming space was staffed through a collaboration with other agencies and was only open when overnight lows felt like -10 or colder.

"The pop-up was difficult because people experiencing homelessness aren't always checking the weather to make sure it’s cold enough,” said Blaikie Whitecloud.

Siloam Mission is running this year’s version on its own and the hours won't be tied to the weather.

"We're really hoping to have our team fully ready by Dec. 9 and then as soon as we hit -10 we're just going to be open every night until March 31,” said Blaikie Whitecloud.

Winnipeg’s cold weather response is still a group effort between many agencies that work together through a plan called the Winter Weather Response

Main Street Project has a new vehicle to contribute this year.

"The second outreach van is to make sure that if someone is suffering outside that they have a ride to safety, they have a ride to a warming centre, they have a ride to our pop-up shelter that's operating today,” said Anastasia Ziprick, director of development with Main Street Project Inc.

Salvation Army says while they are a part of this important work, what's really needed is supportive and affordable housing.

" I know everybody is working very hard on those types of things,” said Mark Stewart, executive director of the Centre of Hope with Salvation Army.

“And for now we just need to focus on what’s in front of us and that's cold weather and we are going to be here for anybody that needs it."

In the next 10 years, Siloam Mission is working to add 700 to 1,000 new housing spaces.

“This is a temporary response that's going to allow people to be safe this winter while we work on those housing responses for future winters and make sure that we can actually transition people into long-term, supportive, stable housing,” said Blaikie Whitecloud.

This means someday a pop-up warming space may not be needed.