The extreme weather season is over, and the final numbers are in for Burnaby's temporary homeless shelter.
This past season, Lookout Emergency Aid Society opened the shelter 25 times, providing beds for 130 people. Of those, 108 were men, and 22 were women.
Lookout runs Burnaby's only homeless shelter out of Westminster Bible Chapel. It's not a permanent shelter, more like mats on the floor that have to be cleared out every morning, and it's only open during the winter season when the weather is cold or wet enough to put people at risk.
"Our intake at the shelter was very respectful of the individuals' right to privacy and confidentiality, and we asked little in the way of personal information from them," said Lookout's David Brown. "Most of the individuals that came to the extreme (weather) shelter were exhausted upon arrival and ate a warm meal and then bunked down immediately. They were just glad to get out of the cold and have a warm place to bunk down for the night. Staff told me that their engagement with the majority of folks that used the service was minimal at best."
If people were interested in getting help beyond a bed for the night, they were given phone numbers for other services.
"We did refer some of the guests to Progressive Housing, seeing as they provide outreach services in Burnaby," Brown said.
As for the rest of the year, people will have to manage without a shelter in Burnaby.
"I suppose they will find ways to survive and hopefully move forward in their lives," Brown said.
According to Brown, there are many reasons people are homeless, unfit housing, mental health issues, sexual and physical abuse, brain injuries, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty and unemployment.
"The list can go on and on, but I think you get my point," he said.
Burnaby's extreme weather shelter season runs from Nov. 1 till the end of March. [email protected]
