Shelters filled up on the Sunshine Coast this week as an arctic outflow brought snow and freezing temperatures to the area, while advocates signalled a need for a warming centre in Sechelt – especially overnight.
In Sechelt, the 35-bed Upper Deck shelter at 5653 Wharf Ave. has been at capacity since Saturday, according to a Tuesday email from RainCity Housing communications manager Bill Briscall.
On Monday, temperatures fell to -6 C, with a windchill of -8 C in the morning. On Tuesday, 14 centimetres of snow accumulated in Sechelt.
“Every community would benefit from warming centres during extreme weather like this,” said Briscall when asked about the need in Sechelt.
Sunshine Coast Community Action Team coordinator Sean Ramsay was more direct: “We definitely need a proper emergency shelter or warming centre in Sechelt for occasions like this,” he said, adding, “the majority of our urban homeless population on the Coast is located in Sechelt.”
A daytime warming centre was established in Gibsons on Monday at the Salvation Army food bank office at 682 Gibsons Way.
It opens at 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. and then transfers to St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church on North Road – the site of a 10-bed extreme-weather shelter – where it runs until 6 p.m.
The shelter is opening an hour early during this cold snap, according to Darrell Pilgrim, director for the Salvation Army Ministry.
The temporary Gibsons shelter, operational since Nov. 2, was full Sunday and Monday nights, and no one has been turned away.
The warming space at Gibsons Way has a capacity of 40 people, however according to Mayor Silas White, the “majority” of shelter clients have other places to go during the day and as of Dec. 20, “we’re supporting only a handful of people in need of warming space this winter.”
The ad hoc warming spaces – at the Salvation Army office and St. Bart’s – will likely run until Friday, said White, at which point “we're looking for other community spaces to be volunteered.”
The spaces are being used in place of the Marine Room at the Arts Building on South Fletcher Road because “other serious building deficiencies” were discovered while renovations were under way to prepare the venue, according to White.
Both Mayor White and Ramsay said the need for a warming centre is greater in Sechelt.
White said the Town has been working with RainCity and other service providers to spread the word about the warming centre in Gibsons “but there has not been the same interest that there was last year.”
Ramsay told Coast Reporter distance is a barrier. The Gibsons sites are difficult to access “on a good day, and even more so when the weather is like this.”
A nighttime centre is even more critical, said Ramsay, since at least the Sechelt Public Library, community centres and storefront businesses are available during the day, “as long as there is no stigma applied to folks.”
District of Sechelt Communications Manager Lindsay Vickers also pointed to those options for when temperatures plunge. “We encourage residents to go to the mall or library during opening hours and to RainCity overnight,” she told Coast Reporter.
Brian Labrosse, a senior living in the supportive housing complex in Gibsons who has been checking on people living in tents tucked out of sight on vacant land in Sechelt, said he’s seeing people resort to layering on clothes and huddling together to fend off the cold. “People don’t realize how big the problem is here,” he said.
The option for people living in tents, currently, is to wear as many clothes as possible, and stay dry, said Labrosse. “With the weather right now, they go outside for a little bit and they’re covered in snow and they go inside and as soon as they get warm, they get wet.”
He said socks, long underwear and warm clothes are high priorities since people are exposed to the elements without places to properly dry off. “It’s a continual battle against the cold.”
The problem is especially apparent in the evening, said Ramsay, after businesses and public spaces close. “People need a place to go to seek refuge overnight when the temperatures are dropping so low.”
Because the shelter is full, “so there’s no extra room to take on anyone living in the tent city who may want to seek actual shelter during this cold snap,” he said. “We definitely need increased shelter capacity.”
Another option in Sechelt is Arrowhead Clubhouse – a vital resource to those in precarious living situations – but it closes at 3:30 p.m.
Labrosse said he has tried to bring people into businesses to warm up but “they’re shunned.”
“There’s just not enough places for people to go to sit and be warm.”
Vickers said the district is “happy to provide use of our facilities should an organization want to coordinate an emergency weather shelter,” and the district is “always keeping in touch with organizations that might provide services for the unhoused or vulnerable.”
The Salvation Army is accepting new socks, gloves and undergarments. People interested in volunteering to host clients at the warming centre can contact Darrell Pilgrim at: (604) 886-3665
Venue owners and operators who may be willing to provide space for a warming centre can reach out to Mayor Silas White via email: [email protected]
