BC Greens call on NDP government to fund year-round weather shelters

It’s getting colder, which means it’s getting tougher for many people experiencing homelessness to find secure, warm spaces.

But extreme weather shelters in cities across B.C. don’t open up until temperatures drop below a certain point, leaving many people to fend for themselves in conditions than can still be difficult to deal with.

The BC Green Party would like to see that change, calling on the provincial NDP government to provide stable funding for year-round weather shelters.

“Communities only get funding when it’s triggered by particular temperatures or weather conditions, and then there is a scramble that happens in a lot of communities to find shelter space and to get it up and running,” said BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.

“But as we know, we are seeing extreme weather not just in the wintertime but also in the summer — people need to shelter from the extreme heat, which can be quite deadly — and people need a place in the community where they can be connected to services.”

The cost of funding weather shelters year-round

Furstenau, who is also the MLA for Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, points to estimates from the City of Nanaimo, suggesting the cost of a fully staffed, year-round warming centre would be $265,000 annually.

Using that figure, it would cost around $43 million per year for the 161 municipalities across B.C. to have one fully funded warming centre.

“And I think it’s really important to consider what conditions are like for people,” Furstenau told CityNews. “If an emergency shelter isn’t triggered until zero degrees or until there’s snow, for people who are living outside in the rain at five degrees or even eight degrees, it is very cold, it is very hard to get warm and there are very few places that people can go.”

She is calling for more investment from BC Housing, local health authorities, and Emergency Management BC to help protect people all year long, echoing a motion she says was well-supported at this year’s Union of BC Municipalities convention in September.

“Right now, the costs of a person being homeless are significant to the health-care system, to policing, to other services. When we look at those costs, particularly to the health-care system, I think we can recognize it is more cost-effective to ensure that people are not getting so unwell that they are having to be taken care of at the cost of thousands and thousands of dollars per night in an emergency room or hospital,” the BC Green leader said.

Furstenau indicates she has heard from many mayors and councillors who are offering solutions to the provincial government that would address local homelessness and bring housing into their communities.

“They are very frustrated with the unwillingness of BC Housing to work with them as they are bringing these solutions forward,” she said.

“The way to make our communities feel more secure for everybody is to recognize that he people who are most marginalized also need to feel secure. Just taking whatever steps people can take to stay warm, to stay dry, to stay safe is taking an enormous toll on them and it’s taking an enormous toll on all of our communities.”