Calgary opens emergency homeless shelter

An office building in northeast Calgary was transformed into a temporary homeless shelter Monday night as temperatures in the snowy city fell to -10 C.

More than 120 mats were set up in theWhitehorn Multi Services Centre, which serves as the headquarters for the city's emergency medical services.

City officials decided Monday afternoon to set up the centre after the city's temporary emergency shelter closed Sunday to make room for a road widening, leaving people walking the streets to stay warm.

Diana Schwenk of the Mustard Seed, an organization that provides food and shelter for the homeless,said Monday the responseto news the citywas adding another warm place to spend the nightwas overwhelming.

"It's wonderful news. It has lifted the spirits around here," she said. "I saw people hugging each other and they are quite excited and happy about that."

But a few blocks away at the Drop-In Centre, it was a completely different picture.

"It was a night of hell for us. We had 371 people waiting here for a bus that never showed up," said Dermot Baldwin, the executive director.

"Eventually when people got frustrated and walked out to try and camp out in the park or down the driveway here, we let them flop out in the entry and that's the only option we had."

"I went to work and did a 14-hour shift and came back and it was snowing and cold and no place to go, said Wade Gilmar."I ended up walking the streets."

Transit supervisors volunteer

Transit supervisors volunteered their time to drive the homeless to the Whitehorn Centre from the overcrowded Mustard Seed.

Tom Sampson of emergency medical services stopped short of calling it an emergency.

"We are trying to say this is a humanitarian effort. We haven't declared a local state of emergency and at this time we're not going to."

Sampson said the centre could be operational until Thursday.

The Salvation Army's Booth Centre and Centre of Hope also set up additional beds Monday night to deal with the growing number of homeless .

Al Befus has lived across the street from the Whitehorn Multi Services Centre for 26 years. He found out late Monday afternoon the centre was going to accommodate more than a hundred people with no place to sleep, but said he didn't mind.

"When it's cold like this, they need a place to sleep."

Wind chill doesn't count: officials

EarlierMonday afternoon, the director of disaster services told reporters the city won't initiate its temporary emergency shelter plan until the temperature dips below -15 C.

Fire Chief Bruce Burrell said officials ignore the wind chill when determining whether to activate the temporary homeless shelter plan, which sees emergency shelters such as the Stampede Park concourse set up with hundreds beds and showering facilities.

Burrell said he is inflexible on whether to open these shelters on humanitarian grounds.

"I work under very, very strict legislative requirements that only allow me to respond to incidents that threaten the imminent life or safety of individuals in the municipality."

Burrell said the issue of whether to factor in the wind chill when deciding to provide emergency shelter for the city's homeless will be discussed this year at city hall.