Coldsnap forces many into warming centres, but lack of overnight spaces worries advocates
Windchill values near -30 C are threatening many people without a home, advocate says
As a coldsnap continues to grip the London region, Environment Canada and the Middlesex-London Health Unit are warning of dangerously low temperatures, high winds and the hazards that come with cold weather.
Local charities and organizations are working to care and advocate for people who have nowhere to take shelter for more than a few hours at a time as the bitter cold blankets the region.
Environment Canada's forecast calls for highs between minus -12 C and -15 C, with windchill values expected to stay near -30 for the next several days. The most basic advice from health officials is to stay indoors and take respite from the cold — not helpful for those who have nowhere to go.
Darryl Reckman, the executive director of Sanctuary London, said while the chill is cause for concern for most people in the region, it's a potentially deadly development for people with no place to call home.
Sanctuary is a local charity that offers meals and warm clothing for those who need it. Through that work helping people with housing, poverty, healthcare, and food security, Reckman said he sees firsthand how already-dire situations can turn even more challenging when the cold comes in.
"I'm seeing people who are hurting. I'm talking to community members day in and day out who are spending all night walking the streets, constantly trying to keep their bodies moving so that they can literally survive the night. They know that if they lay down or if they hunker down for the night, they're not waking up in the morning," Reckman said.
The fight for survival is uphill for many, Reckman added, explaining that many people he helps lack proper warm clothing, have sleeping bags and tents that aren't rated for cold weather, and have no way of getting equipment or clothing that's better suited for the cold.
City warming centres provide some respite for people living in the cold. When the health unit issues a cold weather alert, the city allows homeless people to use community centres as places to get warm during the day.
However, the threshold at which those cold alerts are issued is too high, Reckman said.
The Middlesex-London Health Unit calls a cold weather alert when the temperature reaches -15 C, or when windchill values reach -20 C.
"In Toronto [the threshold] is -5 C, and even there, without being properly prepared, people are at risk of frostbite, hypothermia and, frankly, death," Reckman said.
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The London Public Library's Central Branch on Dundas Street also serves as a warming centre.
But it can be difficult to strike a balance between the needs of patrons who use the library for its intended purpose, and the needs of patrons who visit to stay warm, said Nancy Callister, the library's director of customer services and branch operations.
It's a role the library takes on nonetheless.
"We are funded as a public library, but we also recognize that, especially at the Central library, we are open more hours and more days of the week, and there's not a lot in the downtown core that is available to people seeking warmth and shelter and safety during these cold winter months," Callister said.
Many people, exhausted from a night of moving to stay warm, end up in the Central library during the day.
The library doesn't usually let people sleep inside and security guards are trained to ask sleeping patrons to leave for the day, the rules aren't quite as firm during cold weather events, Callister said.
"People aren't being asked to leave [during cold weather alerts] unless it's behaviour-based," she said, explaining that security guards might ask patrons not to sleep, but that's to ensure they haven't had a medical emergency.
There are not enough places for people to go overnight to sleep undisturbed once warming centres close, Reckman said.
City officials told CBC News this month that shelters are constantly at capacity in the winter months.
The Salvation Army's London Centre of Hope is making adjustment to ease that burden, its executive director Jon Deactis said in a statement.
Currently, the centre has space for 90 men and 48 women.
"By the end of this week, we will increase our capacity by adding six additional beds for women in need, bringing the total to 54," Deactis's said.
While emergency shelters are full, the Salvation Army is "making use of other areas to temporarily
accommodate additional individuals." the organization said.
While shelters are full and warming centres only provide space during daytime hours, the path to permanently taking people off the street, and easing the burden on shelters, lies in how those in more fortunate situations respond, Reckman said.
"We as a society have a collective obligation, a collective responsibility to care for our our fellow human beings," he said.
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