Extreme weather rules eased to provide more winter shelter
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Updated: November 16, 2009 5:25 PM
Local extreme weather shelters will be permitted to open more frequently if council agrees with a committee endorsement to ease the criteria.
Under the proposal, it won't have to be as cold, and heavy rainfall would be enough to trigger the openings.
The new rules would trigger an opening at temperatures at or below -2˚C, or temperatures near freezing with rainfall that makes it difficult or impossible for homeless persons to remain dry.
The previous trigger point for an opening was -4˚C, along with any snow accumulation or conditions deemed severe enough to present a substantial threat to the life or health of homeless persons.
"These changes to the criteria defining "extreme weather" acknowledge the unique weather patterns in the Lower Mainland that make the homeless people more vulnerable to the cold and damp," emergency programs manager Deborah Procter wrote in the report to committee. "The changes will improve service delivery for these people and will result in the extreme weather shelters being open more often during the winter."
Between Dec. 12, 2008 and March 15, 2009, the Salvation Army Richmond House and St. Alban's Church shelter sites were each open for 43 nights.
Regular nightly use at Richmond House's men-only shelter is 10 men and during the extreme weather nights, there were an another three.
During last week's community safety committee meeting, committee members expressed concern regarding the lower number of beds available to women and children.
