KW Out of the Cold loses third location for winter

The Kitchener-Waterloo Out of the Cold program lost a third shelter sitefor the upcoming winter, as Trinity United Church has decided not to runthe program this year.

• KW Out of the Cold loses 2nd location for winter season

Reverend Tiina Ct, pastor of Trinity United Church, said the church would be focusing its efforts on Waterloo Region's housing strategy, which was not in place when the program first began.

"The Homelessness to Housing strategy talks about supportive housing, assisted housing, and so forth," said Ct. "So those will be some of the areas that we'll begin to explore and figure out how we can take a role in helping those things develop over the next 15 years."

The downtown Kitchener church has been with the program since itbegan in 1999.It offered food and overnight shelter to guests every Monday night between November and April.

Out of the Cold now has eight shelter sites left. The organizationiscurrently seekingnew sites forTuesday andThursday nights.

Last week, St. John's Lutheran Church in Waterloo announced itwould not beparticipating in the programthis year, citing increased safety concerns for church volunteers over the past two years.

"We're seeing more substance abuse and mental illness, and we're just not trained to deal with these issues anymore," said Margaret-AnneTannassee, former co-ordinator of Out of the Cold at St. John's Lutheran Church. "I can't put my 120 volunteers at risk."

The organizationRay of Hope, announced last winterit would notbe offering the program this year, due to building renovations needed to keep up with the demand for services.