Vancouver opens additional warming centres and shelters ahead of cold snap

A person bundled up in a heavy jacket for the cold weather wears a face mask to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Vancouver, on Tuesday, December 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Warming centres and shelters across the Lower Mainland are preparing for what’s expected to be a bitterly cold weekend.

Nearly the entire province is under a special weather statement with temperatures expected to plummet.

On Friday, the City of Vancouver announced it would be opening more sites to help the unhoused escape from the blast of winter.

“The city of Vancouver takes it very seriously. Folks who are unhoused are the most vulnerable in our communities and neighborhoods and are most at risk of experiencing health-related complications due to extreme cold,” said Bruk Melles, director of homeless services for the City of Vancouver.

Vancouver has 1,200 shelter spaces, an additional 250 open during the winter, and another 88 welcoming people when temperatures are lower than zero degrees Celsius.

The city is also opening seven warming centres Friday night — with a capacity for 150 people. They’re not just on the Downtown Eastside, but also in Marpole, Mount Pleasant, and Fairview.

“Individuals can bring, depending on the site, bring their pets with them, or carts. Really, it's a place to be welcomed in, have some snacks, have some warm beverages. There's typically tables and chairs set up and there's blankets,” said Melles.

Extreme Weather Response Shelters

 

Directions Youth Services Centre 

1138 Burrard Street 

10 p.m. –  7 a.m.  

 

Cascades Church 

3833 Boundary Road 

9:30 p.m. – 9 a.m.  

 

Bud Osborn EWR 

27 West Hastings Street 

7 p.m. – 7 a.m.  

 

The Salvation Army Belkin House 

555 Homer Street 

9 p.m. – 7 a.m.  

 

Langara YMCA 

282 West 49th Avenue  

9:30 p.m. – 7 a.m.  

 

Warming Centres

 

Powell Street Getaway

450 East Hastings Street

9 p.m. – 7:30 a.m.

 

Odd Fellows Hall

1433 West 8th Avenue

9:30 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.

 

Marpole Neighbourhood House

8585 Hudson Street

10 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.

 

Gathering Place

609 Helmecken

8:30 p.m. – 7:30 a.m.

 

Mount Pleasant Community Centre

1 Kingsway

10:00 p.m. – 6:30 a.m.

 

Overdose Prevention Society

141 East Hastings

11:00 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.

 

Aboriginal Front Door

390 Main St

11:00 p.m. – 7:00 a.m.

 

January has been mild on the South Coast with temperatures above seasonal. That is expected to change overnight Friday and into Saturday as arctic air arrives.

The mercury is expected to drop five to ten degrees below normal.

Temperatures will hover around zero degrees Celsius, lowering to minus six at night.

However, it will feel even colder with wind chill making frostbite a real danger.

“40 kilometer an hour wind sustained, really brings you quite close to minus 15, minus 20. That's when those Arctic outflow warnings can set up. We'll be issuing those when we can kind of see the whites of its eyes and make and making sure that it is in fact, likely,” said Armel Castellan, a Meteorologist for Environment Canada

The frigid temperatures are expected to persist into next week, so most shelters and warming centres will be open for another four or five days.