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City councillors are looking for a better idea of when London should activate an emergency reception centre after the city scrambled last week to turn a community centre into an overnight warming shelter.
After extreme cold warnings spurred by wind chills of –30 C and pleas from several agencies serving the homeless, the city turned Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre into a warming space from Jan. 21 to the afternoon of Jan. 24, serving 132 people at its peak Thursday night.
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The operation, assembled hurriedly after city council met Jan. 21, went off with no major hitches, staff said at a community and protective services committee meeting on Monday.
“This was an overwhelming success,” said Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow. “I think this was the city at its best.”
Councillors Trosow, David Ferreira, Hadleigh McAlister and Jerry Pribil voted unanimously to endorse having city staff go over the exact blueprint for what weather would trigger a similar response in the future.
Staff will examine weather conditions, the use of other spaces such as churches, a process to team up with service providers and first responders and possible funding sources, including provincial disaster relief money.
The Middlesex-London Health Unit issues cold weather alerts when Environment Canada forecasts a low of –15 C or lower or a wind chill of –20 C or lower or issues a cold alert or warning.
When the health unit issues a cold alert, the city opens some of its buildings as warming spaces during normal hours, and works with shelters to help them expand their offerings.
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Councillors wanted to know if that temperature threshold should change, and if conditions such as heavy snow also should trigger a response.
“There’s a lot that we can take away from this,” McAlister said. “If we can mobilize multiple agencies and locations in extreme weather events, that would be greatly appreciated by the community.”
The Carling Heights centre is the city’s default emergency reception centre because equipment such as cots are stored there, which can prevent logistical issues with multiple emergencies, staff said.
Case in point, while the centre was being cleaned and returned to normal use on the weekend, the city almost activated it again for an evacuation of a downtown retirement home.
“Should we have had a situation . . . we would not have been in a position to do both, this is not sustainable for the city to respond to these situations,” said deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, a visiting member.
Trosow, whose bid to start a warming centre discussion at the council meeting Jan. 21 was shot down, said he was glad to see consensus among his peers.
His emergent motion to spur staff to study bringing warming centres online failed in a tie vote before being heard aloud, inspired by a joint letter from eight of London’s prominent homeless-serving agencies pleading for city help. The Carling Heights warming centre came online regardless just hours later.
“I think it’s really important for us moving forward as a council to try to be as unified as possible,” Trosow said after Monday’s meeting. “I think we’re moving in that direction, and certainly staff was offering no objections to what we were promoting.”
Full council will weigh in at its next meeting Feb. 11.
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