As cold weather approaches this weekend, Victoria’s unhoused communities will be most at risk.
The City of Victoria says that this year, emergency warming shelters will only be opened if deemed necessary by operators.
The Salvation Army Addictions and Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) will be the City’s official emergency warming centre operator, and their emergency shelter services are funded in part by BC Housing’s extreme Weather Response program.
The Province requires all municipalities to be on the ready to open an emergency warming centre when extreme weather is present—such as an Environment Canada weather warning.
Related:
- Environment Canada warns Victorians of frostbite with extreme cold temperatures
- Snow way: Temperatures could plummet to -9°C in Victoria this week
In addition to a weather emergency being present, there must be no room left in existing everyday shelters.
“The city will activate a warming centre if we receive confirmation that all shelter resources are full and that there are people outside in the emergency weather conditions that have nowhere to go,” said a City of Victoria spokesperson.
The City says that before the emergency warming centre is officially opened, they must first follow a protocol set out by the Province.
This BC implemented protocol requires that a municipality:
- Confirm all community and BC Housing shelter space is at capacity
- Confirm all BC Housing resources is tapped out
- Reach out to a BC Emergency Coordination Centre to confirm all required steps have been taken
- Receive a “task number” on a case-by-case basis from the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness in order to receive funding for vulnerable community members to have somewhere warm to go
The Salvation Army ARC says that during the cold and wet weather months, they open an additional 30 “extreme weather response” mats in its chapel and community dining room for vulnerable people to sleep.
These mats are temporary, time-limited and only available during extreme weather conditions between November 1st and March 31st.
If and when the City and Salvation Army ARC open the temporary emergency warming centre, they will tweet about it on their X account (formerly twitter).
This emergency warming centre will be located at 525 Johnson Street, if needed.
