HEAT shelter report
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson created the Homeless Emergency Action Team last December to identify immediate action steps the City and its partners could take to get homeless people off the streets and into safe and secure housing over the winter months.
Five shelters, funded by the City, the Province and Streetohome Foundation, and operated by PHS Community Services Society, RainCity Housing and Support Society, Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, and First United Church with assistance from Lookout Emergency Aid Society, were opened, and gave shelter to an average of 433 people per night over a three-month period. The shelters accommodated people with shopping carts and pets and provided refuge for some of Vancouver’s most street entrenched homeless people. The success of the initiative lead to the City and the Province agreeing to extend operations of the HEAT shelters until June 30, 2009.
HEAT members identified three key next steps:
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Extend the shelters opened through the HEAT initiative to April 30, 2010;
Develop a blueprint to implement the City’s Homeless Action Plan by 2015; and,
Develop a Civic Engagement Strategy aimed at involving Vancouver residents in solutions to homelessness at the neighbourhood level.
SPCA works to support pets in shelters
Photo credit: Kirsten Bole, Feeding Pets of the Homeless
One of the reasons the HEAT shelters have been successful is because they allow people with pets. A homeless person who has a pet usually has a very strong bond with the animal. The unconditional love that pet gives is tremendously important to someone who does not have a network of friends or family who they can trust or count on for support.
The BCSPCA has offered critical assistance to the HEAT shelters. Kim Monteith, Animal Welfare Supervisor, dropped off crates when the shelters first opened and also brings food by whenever she can. Kim also visits homeless people in drop-in centres and squats to offer a helping hand with animal care.
"Some shelter operators worry that pets are unruly, aggressive, dirty and not house trained," said Monteith. "These animals are actually very well socialized. Otherwise they would be targeted by police and animal control."
Monteith also credits the HEAT shelters with keeping many pets safe and warm over the past winter. "These shelters helped many animals who would otherwise have had to stay outdoors in the cold. Many of the pet owners have been working with outreach workers to find permanent housing, which will also benefit the animals."