Winter Warming Shelters now open across Northwest

The Province of British Columbia has announced that its winter shelter program is back in operation for this year, with 65 communities across the province set to provide more than 1,400 temporary shelter spaces and over 750 extreme weather response shelter spaces to meet the demand.

“Temporary and extreme weather shelters are crucial to ensuring the health and safety of people living on the street and getting them out of the cold and wet weather,” ... “These shelters not only have the potential to save lives — they also assist people in accessing the support and services they need to achieve housing stability.” -- Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing

In the Prince Rupert area, Emergency shelter services are offered by both the Salvation Army and North Coast Transition Society, with the largest of the two options available at the Emergency housing shelter on Third Avenue West that was opened last year in response to the Tent City protest at City Hall.

Prince Rupert's Winter Shelter program is in place in the 300 block
of Third Avenue West, with the shelter operated by the Transition Society

The Third Avenue shelter remains open in the downtown area located in the old McLean and Rudderham location, that housing option for the community provided for one year ago.

It's services are still required as work continues towards development of the Supportive Housing facility on Park Avenue. As we outlined on the blog earlier this week, that housing option is scheduled to be opened sometime early in 2019.

For the locations of other Emergency shelter locations around the Northwest see the bottom portion of this information statement from the Province on their Winter shelter programs.

For more items of note on Housing in the Northwest see our archive page here.