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B.C. opens 2,000 shelter beds ahead of cold winter season

The province is in the works of making 1,400 temporary spaces and 740 extreme weather response spaces open in 65 B.C. cities
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Manny Aybar, director of shelter services for Serenity House of Clallam County, shows off a toiletry kit that overnight visitors receive at the organization’s single adult shelter in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

As cold weather hits parts of B.C., the province is opening about 2,000 shelter spaces across 65 communities.

The spaces, which include 1,400 temporary spaces and 750 extreme weather response spaces, are part of B.C.’s poverty reduction plan, the government said in a news release Wednesday. The bed spaces double the 2,000 permanent, year-round shelter spaces across the province.

All temporary shelter spaces will be open overnight or 24-7, and provide meals. Some temporary shelter spaces have already opened for the winter season, including in Surrey and Vancouver.

Extreme weather shelter beds are available to be used from Nov. 1 to March 31, based on changing weather conditions and estimated need.

More to come.


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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