White Rock’s extreme-weather shelter has recorded more than 1,300 overnight guests since opening for the season in November.
Shelter spokesperson Kathy Booth shared the figure in a brief report to the Peninsula Homeless to Housing task force Friday.
It is more than double the 543 visits recorded at the shelter between November 2017 and the end of January 2018.
The shelter, operated by Peninsula United Church at Star of the Sea Hall, only opens during extreme-weather events or if temperatures dip close to zero. As of Friday morning, those events led to the shelter being opened 80 times.
READ MORE: Twenty-seven bunk at White Rock extreme-weather shelter
This week, the mercury was forecast to dip into the negative overnight on both Monday and Tuesday, and again on Friday and Saturday night, according to Environment Canada. Rain showers or flurries are possible on Wednesday and Thursday.
Peninsula United Church operates the shelter with Options Community Services Society.
