As the mercury drops and more people seek refuge from the cold, area shelters are operating at maximum capacity.
Kelly Fehr, program director for the John Howard Society (JHS), said the Gateway Shelter has had to break out extra mats to give people a warm place to sleep.
Gateway is a co-ed facility located downtown and when the temperature is -1C or lower, 10 extra mats are set up in the basement. Gateway has 15 beds for women and 13 for men.
“Gateway is full every single day,” said Fehr, adding on average the overflow mats accommodate eight people on a nightly basis.
The JHS also operates a 24-bed, men-only shelter in Howard House, which has also been operating at capacity the past few nights.
Fehr said the society works closely with bylaw and “outreach teams go to homeless camps and encourage people to access the shelter, mental health services or what ever they need.”
When the shelters are full, people are offered bus tickets to Kelowna where there are more resources to assist them.
“Not too many people take us up in that. This is where their home is,” said Fehr. “We are seeing new faces. A lot of them are from Vernon, but for a wide variety of situations they have lost their housing.”
There is also a segment of the homeless population that refuses to go to the shelter no matter how cold it gets.
Fehr said some have addiction issues so severe they cannot abide by the shelter's no drugs or alcohol policy, or they have mental health issues and simply refuse help.
The Upper Room Mission is also seeing more people.
The URM is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week and people are spending more time at the mission between meals to keep warm.
“Our doors are always open during the day for people to come in from the elements,” said Anderson. “We have been flying through the coffee with more and more people trying to warm up.”
To help people stay warm, the URM is also handing out winter clothes.
Earlier this year, the Coats for the Cold Campaign by Lake City Casino and Vernon Hyundai, collected 1,900 articles of winter attire.
“We let our clients have first pick, and then we started distributing items out to organizations that we work with - Gateway Shelter, Howard House, Vernon Youth Safe House, local churches, etc.
“If people are still looking for winter wear, they can stop by the mission. If people have extra coats, mitts etc., they can also be dropped off at the Mission.”
The most needed item at the shelter is socks.
“Socks are always something we are short of, and our clients are constantly asking for new socks. Nobody likes having wet feet, some of our clients deal with diabetes, so foot care is very important,” said Anderson.
The URM is located at 3403 27 Ave.