VIDEO: Extreme cold weather intensifies the homelessness crisis in Kelowna
With temperatures flirting with minus 30 in the forecast, the situation for people without housing goes from bad to worse.
Officials are particularly concerned about those who remain outside.
"By-law services and RCMP do their very best to identify all those who are visibly sheltering outdoors," explained the city's community safety director Darren Caul.
"And right now that number is right around a hundred, so we're very concerned."
One of them is Christie Park who was in tears at the city's sheltering area this morning.
Tonight she has a straightforward goal, "To try to stay warm and survive," she said. "I had to release my dog to dog control because it's too cold for her."
One of the measures to protect people from the extreme cold is warming buses.
One of them was still in place until about 10 am on a frigid Tuesday morning.
We spoke with Colleen, wrapped in blankets as the last stepped off into the cold.
"They get kicked out, I guess, " she said. "They get kicked out now and they come back at 5."
One man was injured when a fire got out of control in a tent while he was trying to warm himself up.
"He came onto the bus and he was burned," said Colleen. "I've seen burn victims, but he was severely burned."
Caul said the police, by-law officers and even the on-call teams from the Downtown Kelowna Association are paying close attention as temperatures plummet.
"All these agencies are vigilantly, actively looking for people who may be sheltering outside," he said.
"So they can asses their welfare, connect them with any available shelter beds that might exist in the city at this point."
Caul admits the problem is worsening.
"We have a rising number of people who are unhoused in our city like cities and towns around the province," he said.
There are increasing calls for permanent bricks-and-mortar sheltering and Caul agrees there is definitely a need for it.
"Absolutely," he said, "outdoor sheltering is not a solution to homelessness."
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