Warming centres across Waterloo Region are closing for the season, even as the cold lingers, leaving shelter staff worried about what comes next for people experiencing homelessness.

At The Working Centre’s overnight warming centre at St. John’s Kitchen in Kitchener, demand for space surged throughout the winter.

“The first nights were about 60 people and it very quickly grew to 100. In the last weeks it’s been between 120 and sometimes up to 130 people a night,” said Joe Mancini, director of The Working Centre.

Mancini said he’s worried that with the warming centre closing in mid-April, shelters in the region won’t be able to meet growing demand.

“Everyone in the region knows that there is a lack of shelter space. We can feel that in all the warming centres,” he said.

Shelters struggling to meet demand

In Cambridge, the YWCA is struggling to keep up with demand. It operates one of the region’s two emergency shelters. The 24-hour shelter in Cambridge has just 20 beds available.

In December, it added five extra beds in hotel rooms, which were filled right away. CEO Kim Decker said there was “no movement” from the time the beds opened until the shelter closed on March 31.

She added that the growing need shows no signs of slowing.

“We have had about 170 requests for service since the end of August that we’ve not been able to accommodate because we’ve been full,” she said.

Decker said staff have been helping the women in the five extra beds find other places to stay, but she remains concerned about those who relied on warming centres over the winter, especially with more cold weather on the way in April. She said that beyond offering shelter, there is little staff can do.

“We can give women hats, mitts and a coat and perhaps a Tim’s [Tim Horton’s] card,” she said.

Cold start to April

Environment Canada forecasts show overnight lows in Waterloo region hovering around freezing or below for the next week, including –5 C Sunday night and –4 C Monday night.

That’s why the warming centre at St. John’s Kitchen will stay open until mid-April, even as other warming centres, like the one run by Porchlight, closed on March 31.

“It’s always been true that the first couple weeks of April are still cold,” Mancini said.

For the YWCA’s part, Decker said the organization is exploring a low-barrier overnight drop-in shelter for women that would operate year-round.

“It’s not something that’s going to happen right away, but it’s certainly something that we continue to look at as a solution,” she said.

Decker said there should be more shelter spaces, especially for women, that stay open year-round.

“It gets incredibly hot in the summertime as well. Folks are in danger just in the way that they are in the winter,” she said.

Mancini echoed the need for longer-term solutions, saying this winter exposed the depth of the homelessness crisis in the region.

“With the growth of population and how hard it is to hold on to apartments, the region needs more shelters and transitional housing more than we ever thought we needed,” he said.