Every year the same concern rises as the mercury drops, do those struggling with homelessness have somewhere warm to stay?
Phil Burneau knows firsthand how easy it is to end up on the streets.
“It can be out of the person’s control,” he says.
Burneau says he was kicked out of his rooming house after a spat and turned to Barrie’s Salvation Army for help.
“There are a few nights that I just walked the streets,” he says. “You just kind of try to stay out of the wind, number one, try to stay out of the wind. Try to keep dry.”
It’s a reality for many who have no place to call home, and local shelters are trying to keep up with the need.
“We started last night, the overflow room. Which means we have spaces for 20 guys on mats in our program room at night,” says Captain Stephanie Watkinson with the Barrie Bayside Mission.
Watkinson says the shelter’s 44 beds are at capacity.
“There are always people in need, and there are just not enough resources,” she says.
Renovations are underway at the David Busby Centre in Barrie. Officials say they plan to have the new 55-bed facility ready on November 26.
Shelters are also looking for donations of hats, gloves, scarves and warm socks to help keep the city’s most vulnerable people warm through the winter months.
