Snow for Lower Mainland, limited shelter space for unhoused

You’ve been warned about it for days, and now we have a better idea of just how much snow parts of the Lower Mainland could see this weekend.

CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says you will want to pull out the shovel and winter boots again.

“Arctic air is definitely going to be in place on Saturday and we have warm Pacific moisture sliding in from the west and northwest — that will bring precipitation through the afternoon, and it looks like if that cold air remains locked in place through the day, we will see that precipitation falling as snow,” he said.

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“The best case scenario is it’s a mix of rain and snow, but we could still see a minimum of 10 centimetres around the area. These are early projections at this point.”

Kuss points out his predictions are a minimum, but the region could get hit even harder through Saturday night, into Sunday morning.

“It’s difficult to put an accurate number on snowfall projections when we’re a couple of days away when a scenario shapes up like this. If precipitation falls only as snow, it could be a 20-plus centimetre event. If the freezing level goes up a little bit, we could see more of a rain event but right now, it does look like we will get snow on Saturday.”

Kuss also has a warning for people living in the Fraser Valley who could see cold-weather records break Thursday night as temperatures, depending on where you live, could fall to double digits.

The provincial government says it will have crews on hand to plow, salt, and sand, and warns if the ice and snow build-up is unsafe on the Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges, then the crossings will be closed with little notice.

Finding a warm bed for the unhoused

As freezing temperatures tighten their grip on the Lower Mainland, shelter space is becoming harder to come by for the community’s most vulnerable.

The Union Gospel Mission (UGM) says on average they’ve been turning away six people a night because there just isn’t enough room. When the city’s emergency shelters are open, like they are right now, then it’s two people a night.

The UGM’s Nicole Mucci says that still too many people to force back into the cold.

“Every single time one of our outreach workers is faced with the impossible task of telling someone that there isn’t space at UGM or anywhere, it’s a really difficult conversation. It’s difficult for the individual who came to us seeking shelter, and it’s really difficult for the outreach workers. It wears on people. It’s hard on the soul and it’s hard on the emotions for everybody involved,” she said.

Please share: Additional shelter spaces and warming centres are available tonight through Thursday, February 23, due to an Extreme Weather Alert.

Details below pic.twitter.com/CFT7NmQISn

— City of Vancouver (@CityofVancouver) February 22, 2023

She feels now, more than ever, there is an urgent need to ensure there is affordable housing available.

“We’re seeing inflation, homelessness, and poverty are really hitting hard and hopefully in 2023 we see important policies take shape that help reverse some of that massive struggle that has been placed on people.”

She says the UGM had a difficult year in 2022 as the facility turned away more than 2,000 people — which is the highest figure they’ve ever seen.

“During great weather in the summer we’re not always going to be full to capacity but what we did see during the summer was pretty regularly we were at capacity, which was very strange for us. We also saw an increase for access to food services.”

Mucci feels there’s a misconception the unhoused only need access to shelter space during the winter months — she stresses, it’s a year-round initiative.

“The reality is any shelter in the city, B.C. or Canada was designed to be an emergency shelter, but what we’ve seen is folks are remaining in a state of homelessness for longer and longer periods of time. That’s because there are more people entering homelessness and then we have the bottleneck on the housing side where our case managers are running into dead ends because there just aren’t vacancies becoming available at affordable rates for individuals.”

She adds, donations have dipped following the holidays and they desperately need items that are not only warm, but waterproof.

“The other thing is rain doesn’t just happen at nighttime. So, even if we have folks who are coming in to stay with us in the evening for shelter, it doesn’t become sunny and beautiful as soon as they go out in the morning. The folks who are staying with us in the shelter, also often need those supplies to stay dry during the day.”

Mucci says they’re also preparing for what could be a really hot summer and are hoping people are able to donate items like hats, reusable water bottles, and sunscreen.

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