Early winter arrival impacting vulnerable Calgarians
Posted Oct 26, 2023 1:00 pm.
Last Updated Oct 26, 2023 1:13 pm.
Calgarians have been adjusting to the snow and freezing temperatures this week, but for the city’s unhoused, it’s been particularly challenging.
According to Andrew Millar with the Calgary Mustard Seed, they typically see an uptick in people staying at the shelter during the colder, winter months, and that demand started early this year.
“Since June, we’ve been dealing with unprecedented demand for services here at the shelter,” he said. “We spent the whole summer over capacity and we are still over capacity.
“I mean, that’s never happened before.”
The centre has capacity for 370 people, and Millar says they’ve been working with the province to find shelter solutions, but the weather change has impacted that.
The opening of a new women’s shelter in the city last week temporarily relieved some of the pressure, but the organization is still struggling to meet demand.
“Last Monday, we opened a women’s shelter in downtown Calgary and that relieved some of the demand but already now with the new snow and the weather, we’re right back where we were,” he explained.
Millar says with a lack of space since June, the Mustard Seed has been redirecting, on average, 20 people a day to other shelters around the city.
With Calgary’s first snowfall of the season on Monday, they had to redirect 32 people.
They are also catering to a different demographic these days, according to Millar.
“We’re seeing an increase in people on fixed incomes, such as seniors,” he said. “Another sort of broader trend is with the large numbers of people moving into the country and just moving into Alberta, we are also have a large number of refugees staying at the shelter, which is also a new phenomenon.
Staying warm is one of the biggest challenges for those sleeping rough in the city, and last year, the Mustard Seed says it saw a spike in vulnerable Calgarians with frost bite.
The Mustard Seed is in need of warm clothing donations and hygiene products to meet their high demand.
Donations can be dropped off at their centre street location.
