By Thia James

Extreme cold fills shelter beds, reveals need for more

Jan 8, 2015 | 5:35 AM

Several consecutive days of freezing cold temperatures have filled the beds at the Prince Albert YWCA’s Our House shelter.

Both the shelter’s main area and its emergency cold weather shelter for intoxicated people have reached its capacity. And they’ve been at capacity consistently since the bitter cold weather settled in.

Shelter manager Edna Bruce said the 10-bed cold weather shelter has not only been at capacity, it has been over capacity.

When this happens, the staff calls the Prince Albert Mobile Crisis Unit to see if they can help find somewhere for the additional people to stay. They also call the Brief and Social Detox unit at Victoria Hospital, as well as the Prince Albert Police Service.

“If nothing else … the police will put people in cells. If cells are full, or the police can’t help them, you know, they’re busy sometimes.”

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On occasion, with other options unavailable, they’ve allowed people to sit or sleep on the couch at Our House, Bruce said.

Over the Christmas holidays, when the temperatures were much higher, the cold weather shelter had a few empty beds. Some of the people who use the shelter went to their home communities to stay with family, Bruce said.

It’s not only the cold weather that pushes Our House’s use to capacity. The cold weather shelter is only open between Oct. 15 to April 15, but when it rains, the number of people using the shelter increases.

According to the Prince Albert Police Service, they have occasionally had people lodged in cells overnight because of the weather. Sgt. Brandon Mudry said they turn no one away and make every effort to find an alternate to the cells for people to stay.

For the Brief and Social Detox unit, the referrals they do get from police involve intoxicated people, according to detox services manager Cory Rennie.

“The police have been very cooperative with us and are fully aware of our mandate of providing a safe, supervised environment for detoxification of alcohol and drugs. In fact, I can’t recall a situation when police have tried to refer someone to detox that isn’t intoxicated or actively using drugs. When we do have homeless clients requesting a bed, but are not intoxicated, our practice is the same as if when we are at capacity. We allow them to sit in our waiting room, until staff can arrange other arrangements for them, such as shelters, mobile crisis, and YWCA with police being the last resort for accommodation. With extreme weather, we try to get them to stay in our waiting until we can make those arrangements for safe passage for them,” he said in a statement.

For the main Our House shelter, capacity is a significant problem as well, so much so that there is a waiting list for clients.

“I hate to even … put people on a waiting list because we never know when we’re going to have a bed come open. And they might be on there for two months and by the time we try to contact you, it’s not easy to get a hold of you,” Bruce said.

With the wait list, it iss first come, first serve. Bruce said lately they’ve had six names or more on the wait list. There is also a list of people that they don’t have room for and have to turn away who are on the wait list.

The need for the wait list is greater in the winter than in the summer, because in the summer months, people are able to set up tents and camp out, said Bruce.

“I don’t think you’ll ever have enough beds,” Bruce said, when asked if there is a need for more beds.

“Like we serve a lot of outlying areas, and I get phone calls from Île-à-la-Crosse and Nipawin, and all over. And even Saskatoon, if they can’t get in someplace in Saskatoon they’re phoning here to see about coming up, so it’s just … it’s the province, right, it’s not just Prince Albert and area, it’s everywhere.”

The Prince Albert YWCA tries to provide its clients with warm clothing and is always short on mittens, toques, scarves, winter coats and boots. Bruce said they’re happy to accept donations from the public.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames