Services for homeless increase to meet winter-time needs

The generosity of individuals, small businesses and corporations has helped those living on the fringe get through the latest cold snap, and the Christmas spirit  will bring more good will, but that shouldn’t be what the disadvantaged need to depend on to survive.

“It’s too bad we have to rely on donations… it’s unfortunate that we’re not funded to do that,” said Jane Slessor, adult services manager at Boyle Street Community Services.

In November, Boyle Street began its sixth year of operation of its winter emergency response bus. The bus will continue to make daily runs with fairly regularly scheduled stops from the Strathcona area and north until the end of April. As part of its service the 18-person bus picks up homeless people and takes them to downtown shelters. But even when night time temperatures plummeted to minus 30 C in November, some homeless people remained in their usual spaces, sleeping in garages, dumpsters, shelters fashioned out of scavenged supplies, and tents in the River Valley.

Shelters have been getting full, says Devin Komarniski, communications coordinator with Hope Mission.

“In this kind of weather, we take everyone in. We find space for them,” he said.

Hope Mission provides accommodations for both men and women, and the increasing number of youth. Up to 700 people can be sheltered and while the numbers don’t usually climb that high, the November cold snap saw 627 people seeking a roof, says Komarniski.

For the agencies in Edmonton’s downtown and inner-city, it’s a matter of coordinating services to best meet the needs of those who live on the fringe.

While Hope Mission provides meals – and serves up to 1,000 meals each day with an additional 200 bagged lunches - and night-time accommodations, it does not provide drop-in daytime shelter. That’s where organizations like Boyle Street, Bissell Centre, The Mustard Seed and the Salvation Army come in.
Hope Mission also operates a 24/7 rescue van, which is a decommissioned ambulance that provides and coordinates help for those in distress.

Slessor says Boyle Street’s warming bus will respond to emergencies as well but tries to keep that sort of work in the realm of Hope Mission’s Man Down van. She notes the bus has been busy and one night worked with as many as 75 people.

“There are other services that are more appropriate for different kinds of emergencies,” she said. “It’s incredibly necessary that we coordinate because there are different programs that do slightly different things and we need to know when we can hand it off to somebody else or we need to do it ourselves.”

Along with providing transportation back to the shelters, the warming bus also hands out winter clothing, blankets, snacks, bottled water, and sometimes hot stew.

“We do have a small budget, but the numbers we’ve been seeing this year, our budget’s not enough to cover the demands for sure. We do a lot of asking for donations,” said Slessor.

The bus also coordinates with other Boyle Street services to meet other needs of the homeless where possible.

While the Hope Mission van operates primarily in the downtown area and travels a regular route, it will go to other parts of the city if there is need. The van also hands out winter clothing, which is collected through donations, and bagged lunches. He adds that any surplus winter clothing donations that Hope Mission may get will be shared with other agencies that provide services to the homeless.

Komarniski says the population served by Hope Mission is about 40 per cent Aboriginal, similar to the figure Homeward Trust Edmonton says is homeless.