Winter months bring new challenges for those experiencing homelessness

As the unsheltered crisis continues to grow in the region, the winter months will bring new challenges for those experiencing homelessness. 

Tara Groves-Taylor is the CEO of Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo and explained some of the health problems experienced in the winter compared to summer.

“Frostbite and other effects of the cold like gangrene. The toxic drug supply obviously is not worsened by the winter, however the reaction time of people and the ability to get somewhere safe and stay alive is affected,” Groves-Taylor said.

Many shelters are not open throughout the day during freezing temperatures and a lack of gloves, hats and mittens is another struggle that those experiencing homelessness must face.

“We do our best to stock up on coats, boots, hats and tents but they get depleted really quickly given the incredible numbers of homeless people in the region and that we are seeing in the system right now,” Groves-Taylor stated.

Groves-Taylor said that while additional resources in the region would help with the ongoing situation, organizations such as Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo are working together in order to provide primary care to those who need it.

“We collaborate very closely with our community partners in the inner city to pool our resources and do the best we can to build efficiencies and structures that work for the folks we serve. This becomes more true in the winter. We keep in touch closely to try and track people when they’re in different places then they may be in the summer months,” explained Groves-Taylor. 

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