New homeless shelters already filled: city

Two of four temporary winter shelters for the homeless are already full and turning people away, Vancouver officials say.

The first shelter opened at Broadway and Fraser just before Christmas.The second,under the Granville Street bridge,reopened last Wednesday. Each provides a bed and two meals a day for 40 people.

"With both shelters filling to capacity within days of opening, we're seeing just how big the demand is for shelter and housing in our city," Mayor Gregor Robertson said in arelease issued Sunday. "Its not just the Downtown Eastside that needs housing it's neighbourhoods across Vancouver.

"By having these shelters open until April 30th, we're able to help some of our most vulnerable citizens have a safe and secure place to stay this winter."

Two more temporary winter shelters one in Kitsilano and one in the West End are scheduledtoopen before the beginning of the Winter Olympics in February. Officials say the shelters will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will close by the end of April.

The winter shelters, part of thecity's winter response strategy on homelessness, are funded through a $1.2-million contribution from the province and $500,000 from the city and operated by RainCity Housing.

"We have a diverse range of people coming to the shelters, from people as young as 19 who have been living on the street for years, to people who have lost their job and can't afford to make rent," executive directorMark Smith said.

"Even though both shelters operate outside of the Downtown Eastside, we are still turning people away because thereare so many people sleeping on the streets in both Mount Pleasant and Downtown South."

Low-barrier shelters

The winter shelters are low barrier, meaning they allow people to stay with shopping carts and pets. Providingsuch shelters for the homeless was a recommendation contained in the coroner's report into the death of Dawn Bergman, a homeless woman,in December 2008.

The Granville Street shelter has a troubled past. It originally opened in December 2008,and funding was extended in the spring of 2009 in an effort to keep it open year-round.

But residents in the upscale neighbourhood on the north side of False Creek complained the no-barrier shelter, which was open all night to intoxicated and drug-using homeless people, led to a plague of open drug use and dealing, public urination and defecation, prostitution and public sex,theft, aggressive panhandling and harassment.

The cityshut it down at the end of June 2009.