By Ian Holmes

Winter emergency shelter in Nanaimo opens early due to poor weather

Oct 14, 2016 | 5:23 PM

NANAIMO — A run of miserable weather is behind an early opening of Nanaimo’s only low-barrier homeless shelter.

The 24-bed extreme weather shelter for men and women at First Unitarian Church on Towsnite Road will open, weather permitting, on Saturday evening, according to shelter coordinator Kevan Griffith. Typically the seasonal shelter is open nightly from November through March, however, B.C. Housing announced additional funding for extreme shelters in the province due to stormy conditions.

“Last year when we opened November 1 we had 23 people the first night,” said Griffith. “With the number of people I see camping out, wreckage of tents and cardboard boxes I see in the bush, I really think we’re going to be pretty full.”

Griffith says the threshold for opening the shelter until November 1 are conditions less favourable than rain and wind and five degrees, or colder than two degrees and clear.

Just under 2,800 people used the shelter last year. It was often full and staff were forced to turn people away, according to city of Nanaimo social planner John Horn. Horn states via email that the shelter opened early a few years ago due to snowfall but has never opened this early due to poor weather.

Making an impact

Nanaimo woman publishes books to open awareness of neurodiverse children

9h ago

iconic voice

Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole, a welcome voice for a half-century, dead at 90

16h ago

first response

New staffing model on Gabriola Island hires local paramedics for enhanced patient care

21h ago

Griffith says it’s dangerous for people to be camping outside in this weather on a regular basis.

“Five degrees with rain and wind, you can die of hypothermia and that’s something we don’t want in our community,” said Griffith.

Griffith says emails are given to his network of social agencies to spread the word if the shelter is open prior to being open nightly.

The facility’s hours are 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and includes evening and morning meals, access to donated clothing and laundry services in a staffed environment.

Funding to operate the shelter at the intersection of Townsite Road and Millstone Avenue comes from the city of Nanaimo and B.C. Government.

This marks the 9th year that the shelter operating in the basement of the church has operated in Nanaimo.