How people experiencing homelessness prep for the winter in Waterloo region
Local organization hands out winter gear only to people who have experience living outside
Charles Reeves lived outdoors through 15 winters.
He's now a resident of A Better Tent City, which is an encampment of tiny homes south of downtown Kitchener, but said that he used to teach others how to survive the season in a tent, and offered insight into how to do so safely.
"Having a proper tent and proper coverings over top of your tent and then proper air flows so you don't suffocate — there's lots of different things you got to think about, right?" Reeves said.
"Proper heater that you don't kill yourself with and you don't burn the place down, right?" adding that he's "survived in 40 below weather with two candles in a tent."
On Thursday, a fire broke out at a small encampment at Victoria and Weber streets earlier which burned down a good part of the site. Although the Kitchener Fire Department said that the cause of the fire was unknown, it highlights the dangers of sleeping rough in the colder weather.
According to a point-in-time count done by the region, there were 1,850 people experiencing homelessness as of 2021. A spokesperson for the region said that currently there are 655 shelter beds and "transitional housing spaces" available.
Despite Reeves' expertise, he recounted a time where the elements got to be too much for him, while warning of the dangers of moisture in the winter for those sleeping rough.
"I was in a storm where it was plus 15 and it went right down to minus 30 in one day and it was all rain, raining like crazy and then everything froze solid in a period of 12 hours," Reeves said.
"There was nothing I could do. I couldn't keep everything dry. My tent was starting to fill up with water. You know what I mean? I had no choice but to go to the shelter and run for help, right? Or I would've died. It's that simple, right?"
Winter grade supplies for those with experience
Community Health Caring KW hands out a number of winter grade supplies to people experiencing homelessness in the region, but if their clients can't prove they have the skills to survive winter outdoors, they may refrain from handing out the gear, citing safety concerns.
"Part of the challenge is we meet many folks who have ongoing mental health and substance use issues that make it difficult for them to set up a camp and maintain it safely," said Doug Rankin, a community health worker with the organization.
"And we're talking about the high risk in terms of very sub-below temperatures so it requires a lot of experience and skill. Some people are just able to develop that and maintain their health and stay safe in the winter. Others are not."
Instead, Rankin said that they'll refer them to a system that would allow them to find a shelter bed, or potentially something like a motel room in the absence of an available bed.
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