Public Health Committee approved 8 more beds, and 8 hotel rooms as the winter approaches, while outreach workers monitor people they know of, and "hidden homeless"
Another 8-beds and 8-hotel rooms will be added by the Niagara Region to ensure the homeless aren't left in the cold this winter.
The region's community services commissioner Adrienne Jugley told the Public Health and Social Services Committee the outreach teams know most of the homeless, and keep track of them.
But there are others. "There are hidden homeless people. Hidden homeless who maybe are couch surfing, amongst friends. We'll know some of them, because if they reached out to our housing help centres, again, we would be able to capture them, they are counted."
She adds most asylum seekers are not in shelters, but hotels paid for by the federal government, and they eventually find permanent housing.
Councillor Tim Rigby reassured everything is being done to help the homeless, in spite of what some in the community think.
He added police and residents can get frustrated sometimes when trying to help someone, and that person is on the street the next day. "We've got to get the laws re-written, so that if there are problems, there should be actions that protect the people that are concerned."
Council also heard the threshold for cold weather alert is -15 C, but they'd like to act even if it's warmer than that, such as 5.
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