Londoners sleeping rough say threshold to open emergency shelters is too cold
CBC
Londoners without a place to sleep at night and the outreach workers who help them are urging the city to reconsider its emergency winter response plan after a night of frigid temperatures and ongoing snow squalls.
Temperatures dropped to -14 C with a wind chill of -24 C overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, while blowing snow covered the region.
However, the weather was one degree too short for the City of London to trigger its winter “surge” response, which includes opening a pop-up overnight warming centre and additional beds across the city.
“Last night, my boyfriend and I slept outside in the cold … We each had a sleeping bag and we were crying the entire night, freezing to death on the Palasad steps at Adelaide and Oxford,” said Angela Crawford, who has been experiencing homelessness since April 2025.
“This is my first time ever sleeping in cold weather like this and it was hell,” she said.
The city has a three-tier winter response plan, which begins with tier one in November when an additional five beds are added to each existing shelter space until April. Once temperatures drop to -5 C, the Ark Aid Mission's Cronyn-Warner location opens its 70 overnight beds.
It’s not until temperatures reach -15 C with a wind chill of -20 that an additional 50 beds will open at existing service providers and a temporary 60-bed overnight warming space will open at Boyle Memorial Community Centre.
“Even when Tier 3 is not triggered, supports remain in place as part of the framework,” said Cheryl Smith, the city’s deputy manager of neighbourhood and community-wide services, in a statement.
“These measures are in place throughout the winter and are intended to reduce risk during cold weather before extreme conditions develop.”
However, some who work directly with London’s unhoused population say that there are plenty of people who need a warm place to sleep immediately.
“This winter has not been kind to us,” said Chantelle McDonald, London Cares' director of services. “For individuals experiencing homelessness on our streets, this is life threatening.”
London Cares outreach workers Hallie McClure and Celine Mallais were outside early Thursday morning to talk to Londoners who spent the night in the cold, trying to find the best places for them to warm up. Those who couldn’t get into the London Cares relief space, which reached capacity early in the day, were given hats, mittens and hand warmers.
“The beds that are available are going very fast and it’s all in the morning, so when it comes to nighttime, people are all realizing the warming centres aren’t open and there isn’t anywhere to go,” McClure said. “Everything is full, I would say by about noon.”
She said the team is meeting more people throughout the city every day.
Commuters hoping to escape the cold by travelling on Line 6 will need to think again, as train service is down Friday morning.
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