Will Calgary Homeless Be Left in the Cold?
April 19th, 2007 posted by Mamasaid
 |
Because of the extremely cold temperatures and threat of a huge snowfall last night, the Salvation Army added 100 mats and cots to the 498 beds available at the two centers for homeless people. |
Because meteorologist are predicting serious cold and snowfall Maj. Gary Brown, spokesperson for the Salvation Army, stated,
“Our provision of this emergency accommodation is a compassionate response to the cold weather. We want to do everything possible to make sure that people are safe and warm.”
The snow, rain and cold are anticipated to continue through Friday.
Homelessness is a growing problem in according the Calgary’s annual YMCA meeting yesterday. The number of homeless people has grown 32 percent since 2004. Over 750 of these homeless folks are women, according to CEO Jill Wyatt. Further, this is only a one-day snapshot of the situation that just accounts for women on the street. Many of these women were in shelters but there was a lack of affordable housing in Calgary. Wyatt says that,
“Because we know women are the majority of renters and are employed on a lower earning level than men generally speaking, they are more vulnerable. The reasons why women become homeless are very complex and usually quite different from men, often involving domestic violence, a breakdown of the marriage, job loss, mental illness, addictions or poverty.”
The YMCA has two facilities with 131 beds for homeless women.
News Source - Calgary Sun Newspaper:
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/04/19/4067575-sun.html
and
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/04/19/4067595-sun.html
Are you affected by the recent cold? Do you know of anyone who is homeless and could use this information? What do you think of the growing number of homeless in Calgary? Is lack of affordable housing the culprit?
