London opened an overnight warming centre at Boyle Memorial Community Centre on Sunday as temperatures fell to about –15 C with the wind chill. The site operated from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. and brought in 56 people looking for a warm place to stay during the extreme cold.
Outreach workers say the conditions are especially dangerous for people living outside. Chris, with London Cares, said the cold can lead to severe health risks for anyone without access to indoor space. “It’s extremely dangerous, the health unit puts out its cold weather alerts with all of the warnings of what could happen, and we definitely have a lot of people living on our streets these days,” she said.
Chris said her team has been responding to more cold-weather concerns this year and has been searching farther for people staying in encampments in secluded areas. “We know the numbers of homeless individuals are up. So this winter is worse than last winter as far as numbers go,” she said. Workers have also been supporting people with disabilities who face challenges getting out of their tents or accessing transportation in emergencies.
The temporary warming centre can take up to 60 people, a number outreach workers say is small compared to the scale of homelessness in the city. “Sixty is a really small number, right, when you look at the vast number of people that are unhoused,” Chris said.
Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis said Boyle will be the only community centre opened as an overnight warming site this winter. He said staffing limits, facility constraints and the need to keep certain spaces available for emergencies make it impossible to convert additional locations. “So Boyle is it, in terms of where we would stand up any warming centres for this winter,” he said.
Lewis said Boyle was chosen because it has fewer daytime programs than other community centres. He noted the city is continuing work on broader projects, including micro-shelters and new supportive housing units.
This comes shortly after Mayor Josh Morgan joined Ontario’s big-city mayors in calling on the province to declare homelessness a state of emergency. Municipal leaders hope to bring more resources for mental-health supports, addiction treatment and housing. Lewis said municipalities cannot manage the crisis alone. “Ontario, you has to step up, health and social services is ultimately the jurisdiction of the provincial government. We’ve carried the ball as far as we can,” he said.
Outreach workers say they will keep checking on people living outdoors throughout the winter as cold weather remains a serious risk for anyone without stable housing.
