Cold, snow, and wind putting more strain on some St. John's shelters

Cold temperatures, piles of snow, and strong winds — especially from a recent blizzard — are straining the resources of some emergency shelters in St. John's, and the operators say the city needs more housing options.

Kim Grant, associate executive director of the The Gathering Place, says their 40-bed overnight shelter was at capacity Sunday night as the blizzard rolled into the Avalon, and staff had to put out cots for extra people who showed up looking for warmth.

"The blizzard, it certainly, you know, caused a lot of concern in terms of making sure people were out of the cold. So we did have a full house here in our shelter," she said.  "We served over a hundred lunches that day, and again just making sure that people have the clothing and the boots and whatever they need to weather that.".

It's a situation staff at The Gathering Place are dealing with more often. 

Grant said the community health centre has around 2,300 registered guests, and many more who come sporadically since the shelter opened in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The good news is that since we've opened this shelter, we have a seen a reduction in the number of people we're having to turn away — and that could be because we've created some additional capacity here, but there's also been additional capacity created in the shelter system," she said.

The Gathering place isn't the only shelter operating at capacity. 

Pam Goodyear at the Salvation Army shelter in St. John's says their 21 beds fill up every night.

"There's three feet of snow on the ground or it's just feeling chilly. None of us want to think about somebody having to sleep outside or live outside," Goodyear said.

The Salvation Army is also getting calls from people outside of St. John's who need a place to stay, and Goodyear said they'll have to turn people away because they're already at capacity.

She says there's more and more people looking for help from the Salvation Army food banks — including more first-time users.

"Over 50 per cent of people who are accessing food banks are new to using food banks," Goodyear said. "So while they're not yet homeless … some of that [is] preventative."

WATCH | Kim Grant doesn't want to turn anyone away on a cold winter's night:

Colder temperatures mean a full house at The Gathering Place

6 hours ago

Duration 1:01

More and more people are regularly relying on the St. John’s shelter’s services. More than 600 meals are served at The Gathering Place each day. Despite the growing need, Kim Grant says staff are turning fewer people away since the shelter’s expansion.

Both Grant and Goodyear said they want to see governments focus on creating more housing options in the city.

Meanwhile, Grant said The Gathering Place hopes to have more beds with the opening of 53 transitional and supportive housing rooms within the next two months.

Goodyear said The Salvation Army needs more money to keep up with demand.

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