A second emergency shelter for the homeless will open in Vancouver Wednesday.
The shelter will be located at 1435 Granville Street and have 40 sleeping spaces available.
An emergency shelter operated at the same location in 2009 and then shut down. Residents had complained about open drug use, lewd behaviour and violence.
But a growing homeless population and the possibility of more cold weather necessitated reopening the shelter, Mayor Gregor Robertson told reporters Tuesday.
The Granville Street shelter will be operated by RainCity Housing. The shelter will allow users to bring shopping carts and pets with them.
"I think it's important for all of these (shelters) to be reopened ... I think it's a pretty good plan," said Sean Spear, RainCity Housing's director.
"We have a reservation system, so we're going to not have as long of lineups. We will have 24-hours staffing."
The city opened another temporary shelter with the same number of spaces at 677 East Broadway in late December.
Both shelters will close by April 30.
The shelters are being funding through a $1.2 million contribution from the province and $500,000 from the city.
It is hoped that after the shelters close, the city will be able to stitch together money streams from government, business groups and philanthropists to provide interim housing and other options for the homeless.
With files from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger
