Kingston homeless calling for 24/7 warming centres

The Concession Street warming centre is not currently being operated between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., leaving people without a place to keep warm during the day.

Unhoused people in Kingston are asking for 24/7 warming centres, as temperatures in southwestern Ontario continue to dip to -30C with the wind chill.

“I’ve never really felt cold like that in a long time,” says Jason Thomas Charbonneau. “It’s not good on the body. It hurts actually.”

Charbanneau is one of the people who have been using the Lionhearts Warming Centre at 218 Concession Street.

The Lionhearts Warming Centre operates from 8 p.m. until midnight, providing warm meals and supplies. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays Home Base Housing then takes over from midnight until 8 a.m., offering 19 sleeping pods.

While this can be a great help, the site is not operating between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., leaving people without a place to keep warm during the day.

“We had to leave by 8 a.m., and we would go to another shelter, Artillery Park, where we could stay warm from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. when the shelter on Concession re-opened,” says Maxwell William Strange. “And we got down there and it wasn’t open so, all of us were out in the cold with no place to go and no one to contact. None of us have cellphones.”

“This is not something we chose to happen to us, no matter what people think,” says Strange. “Most people don’t choose to be homeless. And once you are, it’s almost impossible to get back out.”

Strange says he believes the daytime closure is due to a shortage of staffing and volunteers that would be necessary to run the facility.