© Provided by Vancouver Sun
Taze Haasbeek outside his tent at Strathcona Park as temperatures are expected to drop to -10c overnight in Vancouver.
It’s the same advice you would give someone on the Prairies during a blast of Arctic cold front: Layer up.
It is not as cold as Winnipeg or Edmonton and their minus-30C temperatures, but for those living on the street, this week’s weather poses real and dangerous problems.
“We’re surviving,” Chrissy Brett said. “It helps that we have a warming centre and the sacred fire.”
Brett is a spokeswoman at the tent city in Vancouver’s Strathcona Park, where more than 200 people have decided to brave out the winter rains, wind, and now cold weather.
At the request of the city, B.C. Housing provided a mess tent with propane heaters inside. But because of pandemic protocols, only 18 people are allowed inside at a time.
A Nanaimo couple has come up with candles made of paint cans and cinder blocks, with wire mesh to prevent items such as blankets or sleeping bags from falling into the flames and burning down a tent.
“It’s very, very difficult having to deal with the cold,” said Fiona York, an advocate for people without shelter. “We’re trying to double up on extra tarps, sleeping bags. We’re doing our best.”
It’s the same advice you would give someone on the Prairies during a blast of Arctic cold front: Layer up.
It is not as cold as Winnipeg or Edmonton and their minus-30C temperatures, but for those living on the street, this week’s weather poses real and dangerous problems.
“We’re surviving,” Chrissy Brett said. “It helps that we have a warming centre and the sacred fire.”
Brett is a spokeswoman at the tent city in Vancouver’s Strathcona Park, where more than 200 people have decided to brave out the winter rains, wind, and now cold weather.
At the request of the city, B.C. Housing provided a mess tent with propane heaters inside. But because of pandemic protocols, only 18 people are allowed inside at a time.
A Nanaimo couple has come up with candles made of paint cans and cinder blocks, with wire mesh to prevent items such as blankets or sleeping bags from falling into the flames and burning down a tent.
“It’s very, very difficult having to deal with the cold,” said Fiona York, an advocate for people without shelter. “We’re trying to double up on extra tarps, sleeping bags. We’re doing our best.”
© NICK PROCAYLO The warming tent at Strathcona Park.
At Strathcona park on Tuesday, a volunteer delivered huge bags of dog and cat food, while another pulled a wagon loaded with treats for residents.
The city, in cooperation with the province, opens extreme-weather shelters as soon as temperatures drop to freezing. They have been open 75 nights so far this winter, on top of the temporary winter shelters that are open every night between November and March.
The city has also opened warming centres from Feb. 8 to 12, which are activated when the temperature reaches minus-5C or below.
“Due to the cold weather this week, additional extreme-weather response shelter spaces are open from Feb. 8 to 12 at Evelyne Saller Centre, Directions Youth Services Centre, Tenth Church, Langara YMCA, and Cascades Church,” a city spokeswoman said. “Warming centres are activated when the temperature reaches minus-5C or below, or when it feels like minus-5C or below.
“These spaces act as a life-saving measure for people sleeping outside during the colder winter months. The city encourages anyone who is sleeping outside to visit one of these centre which are open to all, including couples, and provide hot drinks and snacks.”
Most centres accept people with pets and carts.
But with pandemic protocols in place, all shelters and warming centres have reduced capacity to accommodate social distancing.
At Strathcona Park, there are two warming tents to enable people to stay warm, as well as temporary shower and washroom facilities. The first tent is for people who have symptoms of COVID-19, and the second for those who are not experiencing symptoms. Both tents operate 24 hours a day and are operated by a non-profit and staffed by peers.
“I definitely don’t want to go inside (a single-room occupancy building),” Strathcona Park resident Taze Haasbeek said outside his igloo-looking tent, citing past violent attacks. “My worry here is, I don’t want to wake up on fire.”
When the temperature drops, danger rises, said Jeremy Hunka of Union Gospel Mission, pointing to a fire death at a North Shore homeless camp in January.
And aside from things such as frostbite and hyperthermia, the cold can bring on pneumonia, Hunka said.
“The cold gets in your body, your bones, your lungs.”
Union Gospel Mission’s cold-weather spaces are open and its mobile mission is dropping off socks, toques, blankets, sleeping bags and, if need be, winter footwear.
At Strathcona park on Tuesday, a volunteer delivered huge bags of dog and cat food, while another pulled a wagon loaded with treats for residents.
The city, in cooperation with the province, opens extreme-weather shelters as soon as temperatures drop to freezing. They have been open 75 nights so far this winter, on top of the temporary winter shelters that are open every night between November and March.
The city has also opened warming centres from Feb. 8 to 12, which are activated when the temperature reaches minus-5C or below.
“Due to the cold weather this week, additional extreme-weather response shelter spaces are open from Feb. 8 to 12 at Evelyne Saller Centre, Directions Youth Services Centre, Tenth Church, Langara YMCA, and Cascades Church,” a city spokeswoman said. “Warming centres are activated when the temperature reaches minus-5C or below, or when it feels like minus-5C or below.
“These spaces act as a life-saving measure for people sleeping outside during the colder winter months. The city encourages anyone who is sleeping outside to visit one of these centre which are open to all, including couples, and provide hot drinks and snacks.”
Most centres accept people with pets and carts.
But with pandemic protocols in place, all shelters and warming centres have reduced capacity to accommodate social distancing.
At Strathcona Park, there are two warming tents to enable people to stay warm, as well as temporary shower and washroom facilities. The first tent is for people who have symptoms of COVID-19, and the second for those who are not experiencing symptoms. Both tents operate 24 hours a day and are operated by a non-profit and staffed by peers.
“I definitely don’t want to go inside (a single-room occupancy building),” Strathcona Park resident Taze Haasbeek said outside his igloo-looking tent, citing past violent attacks. “My worry here is, I don’t want to wake up on fire.”
When the temperature drops, danger rises, said Jeremy Hunka of Union Gospel Mission, pointing to a fire death at a North Shore homeless camp in January.
And aside from things such as frostbite and hyperthermia, the cold can bring on pneumonia, Hunka said.
“The cold gets in your body, your bones, your lungs.”
Union Gospel Mission’s cold-weather spaces are open and its mobile mission is dropping off socks, toques, blankets, sleeping bags and, if need be, winter footwear.
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