Halton Region has issued its fourth cold weather alert this winter.
Cold weather alerts are issued when the daily low, without windchill, is -15C or lower and when temperatures, with or without windchill, are expected to reach -30C for two hours or more. Alerts are also issued during extreme weather conditions like ice storms and blizzards.
According to Environment Canada the overnight low on Jan. 16 will be -15C but will then jump to 1C on Jan. 17.
Despite being one of the richest cities in Canada, Oakville still has a resident homeless population. The Oakville Beaver reported during the last cold weather alert that the Town has no officially designated warming shelters but advised residents that they could warm up “during regular business hours”.
Halton Region’s website indicates that the region received $4.1 million in provincial funding between April 2013 – March 2014 to deal with homelessness in the region.
The Salvation Army operates the Lighthouse Shelter, which is funded by the Region. The Lighthouse is the only shelter in Halton specifically for homeless people. The Beaver reports that the centre has 38 beds and that on any given night the centre is 95 percent full.
Staff at the Lighthouse could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
<iframe src=’http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=0ApDeA38-hRIEdHFpa092U0MtRjhBTlMwM0s0dTIwelE&font=Bevan-PotanoSans&maptype=toner&lang=en&height=650′ width=’100%’ height=’650′ frameborder=’0′></iframe>
