As bitter cold continues, council moves to expand access to emergency warming spaces

Facing a council chamber of people pushing for more life-saving supports in the middle of a bitterly cold winter, London city councillors voted Monday to widen the threshold for when extra winter warming spaces open.

Council's community and protective services committee voted Monday to approve a maximum of $290,000 from a reserve fund to lower the bar for when 60 warming centre spaces are opened at Boyle Memorial Community Centre.

The motion passed by committee says the city's Tier 3 winter response would activate under any of the following three conditions:

Under the current threshold, Boyle converts to a warming centre only when temperatures hit –15 C and the wind chill reaches –20 C.

The previous warming thresholds led to criticism that the city-run emergency warming centre wasn't opening often enough during what has been a punishingly cold winter with multiple nights of overnight temperatures double digits below zero.

In response to councillors' questions staff estimated that each activation of Boyle warming centre costs between $12,000 and $14,500 a night. This means the motion approved Monday will potentially allow the Boyle warming centre to open an additional 20 nights when the temperature and cold weather alert thresholds are met.

The new thresholds won't take effect unless and until they're approved by council at its Feb. 10 meeting.

The committee also approved $250,000 from an emergency fund to allow local agencies to open additional warming spaces, at their own discretion, when the temperature reaches -5 C.

Councillors endorsed changes as people packed the public gallery in council chambers to the point where an overflow room had to be set up.

Among the speakers was Chantelle McDonald, a director with London Cares, an agency that provides supports for people who are unhoused. She called the situation this winter "desperate."

"This isn't a seasonal challenge, this is a life and limb emergency, and our indoor resources are not enough to keep people safe," said McDonald. "I've watched people lose fingers, feet and their lives to the outdoors. This is preventable."

Councillors backing the motion said the existing thresholds weren't doing enough to protect people from this winter's dangerously cold conditions.

"I want to see better conditions laid out that are more akin to the human body, and not to capacity resources or anything of that nature," said Coun. David Ferreira, who drafted the motion along with other councillors, Skylar Franke, Sam Trosow and Susan Stevenson.

The motion also calls on staff to look at options and costs for opening other emergency warming centres in the future.