As the temperature in Vancouver begins to drop below zero, the city's homelessness advocate Judy Graves believes shelters need to be open longer to keep people warm.

"We're asking the province to open the winter shelters consistently now from tonight on through the end of March or even the end of April, through that cold, wet, rainy season in Vancouver when people do not really survive well outside," Graves told CTV News.

The Salvation Army shelters have experienced an increase in their number of occupants as people used to sleeping on streets are moving indoors. At this point temporary housing programs provided by the organization as well as by the First United Church and the Union Gospel Mission have not yet needed to open their extreme weather or overflow spaces.

Steven Roberts of the Salvation Army has been a front-line worker with the homeless for a decade. This year feels different to him while the shelters he's associated with are running at about 80-per-cent capacity.

"I know that really we've met out our goal," Roberts said. "We're in a position now where we don't have to turn people away."

Graves told CTV News she believes the numbers are skewed because winter shelters are not opening until 11 p.m.

"It's too late," she said. "By that time people who are ill have already rolled themselves up in a bit of cardboard and are falling asleep in the street. It's also very difficult to get a message out to everyone who's living outside to let them know yes, tonight the shelter is open."

Roberts agreed the numbers may not be representative of temporary housing needs because more people may want a place to stay as the season progresses.

"The colder it gets the more people are going to line up looking for space," he said.

The B.C. government stated it's taking a more "cost-effective" approach to homelessness by opening permanent housing that eliminates the need for provincially funded winter beds. According to the province, permanent housing options resulted in only a third of the extreme weather response shelter beds being needed around Metro Vancouver last year, so it scaled back beds for this winter.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Penny Daflos