With Metro Vancouver facing its first serious heat wave of the season, advocates for the region’s homeless say they need help.
“Heat has been deadly in the past, it has been fatal for the homeless population in Vancouver,” said Union Gospel Mission (UGM) spokesperson Jeremy Hunka.
Hunka said people living on the street are particularly vulnerable to hot weather, and are at a greater risk of everything from sunburns to heat exhaustion to heat stroke.
“Especially because some people on the streets already have other health concerns, their immune system is already diminished, and the heat just takes the danger level up even further and exacerbates an already really dangerous situation,” he said.
Hunka pointed to a 2016 UBC study that found a higher risk of death during extreme heat in concrete-heavy, low-income areas such as the Downtown Eastside.
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UGM outreach workers have been hitting the streets and distributing reusable water bottles in anticipation of the weather.
But Hunka said the organization is critically short on a number of supplies, including water bottles, sunscreen, hats, and light men’s clothing.
A list of needed items and information on how to donate can be found here.
South of the Fraser, another homeless advocate is calling on the City of Surrey to reinstall a temporary water fountain on the so-called “Whalley Strip” of 135A Street.
Erin Schulte, who operates a pop-up soup kitchen for Surrey’s homeless, battled the city over the issue last summer, launching a petition to have the fire-hydrant linked fountain placed on the street.
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She said access to drinking water in the areas is essentially limited to a single tap inside the Front Room, a homeless outreach centre operated by the Lookout Society.
Schulte said she hasn’t spoken directly with the city about reinstalling the fountain, but said between the heat and the booming homeless population in the area officials should be proactive about making sure people in the area don’t overheat.
“Let’s do the right thing. You know, these are members of our community. These are people who are having a really hard go of it as it is, and they deserve it. They deserve it just like anyone else does and its such an easy fix.”
Surrey manager of public safety operations Jas Rehal told Global News that for the time being, there is no plan to reinstall the fountain.
He said outreach workers with the Lookout Society are distributing bottled water, and bylaw staff will do so as well, if the weather warrants it.
He said the city isn’t ruling out bringing the fountain back, but prefers not to use it because of health and safety concerns, including reports of people bathing in it.
Temperatures in the region are expected to peak on Monday and Tuesday, reaching the high 20s near the water and topping 30 degrees in areas inland.
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