Dozens find shelter at Moss Park Armoury

Newly opened space helped 26 people Saturday night

Twenty-six people found warmth from Toronto’s icy grip Saturday night after the Moss Park Armoury was finally opened as an extra shelter space.

It was initially planned that the armoury, which has capacity for 100 people, would open Monday but the city moved the date up by two days to meet the growing demand for refuge from the record-setting low temperatures.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said he decided to use the armoury after he was warned that the Better Living Centre drop-in shelter at Exhibition Place could soon hit capacity. He had initially voted against using the armouries as shelters about a month earlier.

Moss Park Armoury will continue to operate 24/7 for about two more weeks, although the city has asked the federal government, which owns the site, to use it until April.

In a news release Sunday, the city announced it would close the Wellesley Community Centre warming service, which had been opened as an emergency overflow space.

The Wellesley Community Centre saw only one person during the night, so “the facility will be returned to its primary purpose of community-based programming,” the release said.

Other emergency warming centres will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week until further notice, the city said.

The measures come in the wake of a record-breaking cold spell that began on Christmas Day, with temperatures sometimes dipping as low as -35 C during that period.