Click here to sign up for our daily newsletter

How Regina’s homeless survive the extreme cold weather

Dec 11, 2013 | 6:48 AM

It's a struggle to keep warm in this weather under the best of circumstances when you have a home but how would you survive on the streets of Regina in the dead of winter? That is the plight facing hundreds of homeless people every day.

Standing outside the Salvation Army Waterston Centre in Regina, a man named Lonnie explains that he has been homeless for almost a year. Up until Saturday, he was living in an abandoned house but his shelter caught fire.

“It wasn’t really warm but as long as you have enough blankets you can survive,” he said.

Lonnie slept at the Waterston Centre for the first time this week. But where does he go when the dorm closes daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.?

“I go to the mall where it’s warm and I hang out there all day long,” he explained.

Lonnie is going to give Waterston a shot, but if there was no fire he said he would still be at the abandoned house.

This winter has been busy at the shelter because of early cold weather, the Waterston Centre added 20 beds a week ago bringing the total up to 52. The beds were full from the start of winter.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow