London poised to open emergency centre for homeless as wind chill nears –30 C

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London is ready to open an emergency reception centre to bring the city’s homeless out of the extreme cold for the night, the mayor says.

Mayor Josh Morgan told The London Free Press Tuesday evening that if existing overnight shelter space is used up, including any new emergency space spurred by the extreme cold, the city stands ready to open its own facility.

“The logistics of that are being worked on as I’m speaking,” he said. “That is the response the city of London will give, and that is our commitment to trying to ensure that people have a safe place to be indoors tonight.”

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Environment Canada  has issued an extreme cold warning for the city. Wind chill values overnight Tuesday could be near –30 C to –35 C, the agency said. The Middlesex-London Health Unit extended its cold alert on Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon.

Existing shelter providers register in advance who is staying in their overnight beds so they can refer to the city anyone who might be turned away, Morgan said.

The exact location and how many spaces the city will provide has not been determined as of early Tuesday evening, but Morgan compared it to a fire response with spaces to sleep and food.

Morgan’s announcement came just hours after several of London’s prominent front-line agencies serving the homeless penned a letter to politicians asking for a similar response, and a failed attempt by one councillor to have the city study those options.

The city opened six of its community centres as warming centres during their normal hours on Tuesday, and helped service agencies open more than 60 additional emergency overnight spaces Monday night, Morgan said. However, London’s shelters have constantly been at capacity already.

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It was that pressure that prompted an open letter to politicians before Tuesday’s city council meeting from eight of London’s front-line service agencies including London Cares, Ark Aid Street Mission, the Unity Project and the Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley branch.

The agencies are “beyond devastated” at the trauma the more than 320 Londoners living on the streets are experiencing in the deep freeze that began Monday.

“Yesterday in –20 degree weather our team arrived on scene to find an individual with significant frostbite to his lower limbs . . . their feet were completely frozen,” the letter reads. “This individual . . . remains in hospital undergoing medical care.”

Calling the cold a “state of emergency” in need of an urgent solution, the agencies urged politicians at the Tuesday meeting to either have the city set up its own indoor warming spaces overnight with security and support, or to set up insulated tents with a heat source alongside a trailer with washrooms and showers.

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Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow tried bringing a motion at the meeting to ask city staff to “immediately investigate” if the city could open more warming centres, and determine the threshold for their opening, general locations, building types and if outside agencies could be tapped to help staff them.

The vote to grant Trosow leave, or to deviate from council’s procedure to even hear the motion aloud, failed on a 7-7 vote.

The motion required at least 10 votes to be successful, but Morgan and councillors Hadleigh McAlister, Jerry Pribil, Peter Cuddy, Paul Van Meerbergen, Steve Lehman and Shawn Lewis voted against. Coun. Susan Stevenson was absent.

“Speechless,” Trosow said of his reaction to reporters after the meeting. “I am deathly worried . . . there’s been growing talk that London’s winter response has been inadequate, and it’s really come to the head in the last two weeks.”

London has no dedicated winter response to homelessness this season, such as funding for additional beds at shelters, instead opting to continue funding 90 shelter beds for the city’s homeless population at Ark Aid Mission — a carry-over from last year’s response.

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Morgan said he voted against Trosow’s push because council was not notified in advance and didn’t have enough information and expertise to be “thoughtful,” but immediately gathered senior city administrators and service providers to hash out a plan.

“The best way is the way that we are handling it now, with experts, senior staff and the city and its partners coming together to provide an actual solution that will work for people out in the cold tonight,” he said.

The city will evaluate based on conditions Wednesday if the space should stay open, Morgan said, but he stressed it is unsustainable for the city to maintain a long-term presence.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

@JackAtLFPress

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