Out of time, with few options, and insufficient funding city councillors sparred for two-hours about emergency shelter beds for Londoners experiencing homelessness this winter.
Many Londoners living in encampments will have to survive this winter outdoors after city hall had difficulty securing enough overnight shelter spaces.
Bitterly cold nights are putting hundreds of Londoners living unsheltered at risk. Ark Aid Street Mission will open its first 30 shelter beds this winter on Nov. 20, despite city hall being at least a week and a half away from approving its Cold Weather Response.
Six weeks after its launch, the Winter Response Program for Londoners experiencing homelessness has yet to open all of the additional overnight shelter beds. The city is providing $5 million to a group of frontline agencies led by London Cares to offer additional daytime and overnight spaces, but staffing the expanded shelters has slowed the roll out.