By Adriana Christianson

Cold snap prompts Regina shelters to add more beds

Nov 19, 2014 | 6:16 AM

Although there’s a steady demand year round, homeless shelters in Regina add emergency beds in the winter to keep people off of the streets and out of the dangerous cold.

Rebecca Cochrane is the director of development and programs for Souls Harbour Rescue Mission. Souls Harbour operates an emergency shelter for men in the downtown area and one for women and children in North Central. Both shelters operate 12 beds year round but can increase to 16 in the winter.

“For the most part, our men’s shelter operates at capacity most nights of the year,” she explained, adding that demand at the women’s shelter goes up and down throughout the year. She says the overall demand for shelters doesn’t correlate specifically to cold weather but the risk does.

“We wouldn’t turn someone away when it’s cold,” she said. “When it’s dangerously cold outside, even if we can’t house them due to maybe they are intoxicated or would be considered an unsafe guest, we would refer them to another resource that would make sure they are kept safe.”

The Salvation Army Waterston Centre has 52 regular shelter beds but adds eight emergency mats to accommodate more people in cold weather.

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Maj. Mike Hoeft is the regional director for Salvation Army. He says they see more people coming through the doors when it’s cold outside; the regular beds are consistently full in the winter.

“The cold weather beds, those extra eight – sometimes they’re full and sometimes they’re not, it really depends on the temperature outside,” Hoeft said.

He says it’s hard to predict what kind of weather will drive more people to shelters instead of risking a night outside.

“This last weekend it wasn’t really that cold compared to January or February but we were full all weekend because it was really the first cold snap of the year,” Hoeft he said.

Those mats are set aside from early November to the middle of April but can be pulled out again in an emergency.

“Even if we get to our capacity, all of the shelters in Regina work very closely to make sure that nobody’s left on the street,” Hoeft commented.

Both Soul’s Harbour and Salvation Army welcome public donations, noting that the demand for warm winter gear like jackets, toques and mitts really increases at this time of year.

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