The city's first two warming centres opened at the Kensington Pitch and Putt Clubhouse on Curtis Street and the hospitality room of Swangard Stadium overnight on Dec. 12. Soon after, it also opened its operations centre on Beresford Street and the South Central Youth Centre on Nelson Avenue.
So far, Swangard has proven to be the most popular centre, with an average of five to 15 people using the facility each night, according to Burnaby’s director of corporate services, Dipak Dattani. The other three locations see one to five people nightly, he said.
Dattani said the numbers are increasing steadily as homeless people learn of the new program spearheaded by Mayor Mike Hurley, who was elected this fall. Former Mayor Derek Corrigan long opposed overnight shelters for the homeless.
The warming centres each have a capacity of 25 and offer washrooms, sleeping mats, hot beverages and snacks for anyone who comes through the door. The city plans to keep them open nightly through March.
Each facility is staffed by two city employees and a security guard, Dattani said.
Dattani said the response from residents near the centres has been positive overall with only two complaints to the city. Both, he said, have been addressed.
He said there have been only minor issues with individuals complying with conduct expectations.
“Generally people, when they are told about how to behave or what is expected, they are generally doing that,” he said. “It’s generally going well from our perspective.”
