Spike in shelter use ‘unprecedented’
Cold weather, lack of affordable housing and entry-level jobs blamed
WATERLOO REGION — Since mid-November a number of shelters in the region have been experiencing an “unprecedented” spike in demand.
“What I can honestly say is that our numbers are higher than they’ve ever been,” said Christine Stevanus, housing services director with the House of Friendship.
The House of Friendship’s men’s shelter has the capacity to take in 51 people per night, but for the past month and a half the demand has been well beyond that.
And The Bridges’ shelter in Cambridge, which can accommodate 78 men and women with the capacity for overflow, is experiencing the same thing.
“We’re around 100 (people a night),” said Lynn Perry, organizational development adviser with the Cambridge shelter Tuesday.
Frosty temperatures and numerous extreme cold weather warnings over the past cou-
ple of weeks are among the reasons being cited for the demand on shelters.
“When the weather starts to turn we do start to see our numbers start to go up,” said Perry.
“But, I am finding that our numbers this (time of) year are a little bit higher than they have been historically.”
Perry also cites larger socioeconomic issues as part of the catalyst for rising shelter usage. She said this includes a need for more affordable housing and a decrease in entry-level labour jobs in the region.
Stevanus from the House of Friendship agrees that affordable housing is in demand and that the shelter is always looking for landlords who are interested in working with them to provide more affordable housing spaces.
What is fairly certain, said Perry, is that when one shelter in the region is at capacity it’s a good indication that the others are as well.
“Emergency shelters in Waterloo Region operate as a system and not in isolation of each other,” she said.
Under the Region of Waterloo’s Emergency Shelter Program Framework, shelters work together to make sure everyone who seeks a place to sleep is never turned away — meaning, if a person is seeking shelter at one particular location that has reached capacity, staff will call around to see if another shelter has space.
The YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo emergency shelter for women, located on Frederick Street in Kitchener, has daily contact with The Bridges for that reason, said Elizabeth Clarke, CEO of the YWCA for K-W.
And while the shelters offering space for men are seeing a spike in demand, Clarke says the women’s shelter has remained consistent — and mostly full — with an average of about 60 women needing a bed every night.
The shelter can accommodate about 66 people in an overflow situation.
“I really think it’s because there are more men who are sleeping outdoors,” said Clarke, commenting on the increase in demand for beds at male shelters in the region.
“There just aren’t women that are sleeping outdoors nearly in the same numbers.”
Perry confirms that the Cambridge Shelter sees more men than women, but said the demand from both sexes is on the rise.