Another church leaves Out of the Cold program, one site remains
St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in Waterloo is the latest in a string of churches to close its doors to the Out of the Cold program.
In a release, Out of the Cold coordinators at St. Louis said the church plans to focus its efforts on existing supports in the region, such as the House of Friendship and the new YWCA shelter.
"We feel duplicating the services the Region is now supplying, would not in the best interest of the homeless people. Our goal is to support the Region with their mandate of aggressively addressing homelessness in the region," the coordinators said in a release.
St. Louis's program had seen a drop in numbers since the new seven night a week shelter opened at the YWCA in downtown Kitchener, said one of the coordinators, Keith Schnarr, in an email to CBC.
According to Schnarr, since opening in November St. Louis had an average of 35 to 40 guests for dinner compared to last year's 80 to 85 and 15 to 18 overnight guests compared to 60 to 65 guests last winter.
First United Church is the only remaining Out of the Cold site offering overnight shelter.
The coordinator of that program, Cathy Stewart-Savage, said the church plans to continue operating as an Out of the Cold site until January when it will re-evaluate its involvement moving forward.