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Jonathan is homeless and avoids computers but will happily talk to birds.[/caption]
As I'm typing this, it's evening here in Vancouver, and our temperature is reported to be 6° C with an expected low of 2° C. There's no chance of an extreme weather alert for tonight, is there? How do I, as a quote-unquote homeless person, find out for sure?
The Extreme Weather Response program is run by BC Housing, an agency of the British Columbia provincial government. BC Housing issues the alerts to various branches of government, media outlets, and stakeholders in the extreme weather response program, including participating shelters. BC Housing will help cover the cost incurred by participating shelters which open their doors during extreme weather alerts.
If you don't watch TV, or listen to the radio, another way to find out about the alerts is via Twitter; BC Housing tweets the alerts. Scrolling through BC Housing's Twitter account, the most recent alert appears to have been yesterday. BC Housing has a few Web pages on the Extreme Weather Program, but none of them are designed to be a destination for people wanting to see the current extreme weather alert status for their community. The Weather Channel might mention them on their Alerts Web page; they don't list one today.
So besides Twitter and local media, Homeless people have to count on commonly accessed support services to notify them. I'm sure this works well on the north side of False Creek, in downtown Vancouver, and particularly on the Downtown Eastside, where the largest homeless population has access to the largest array of homeless support services.
On the south side of False Creek -- my side -- there are comparatively fewer of us homeless folk and not a lot of services. There is the bottle depot I go to every day though. Yesterday they had a nice big sign by the cash register announcing that an extreme weather shelter in a church was open on Larch Street. Wonderful, except the sign was still sitting there today. But I don't think that shelter is open tonight. Oh well, no system is perfect. Click the image to enlarge it.
Jonathan is homeless and avoids computers but will happily talk to birds.[/caption]As I'm typing this, it's evening here in Vancouver, and our temperature is reported to be 6° C with an expected low of 2° C. There's no chance of an extreme weather alert for tonight, is there? How do I, as a quote-unquote homeless person, find out for sure?
The Extreme Weather Response program is run by BC Housing, an agency of the British Columbia provincial government. BC Housing issues the alerts to various branches of government, media outlets, and stakeholders in the extreme weather response program, including participating shelters. BC Housing will help cover the cost incurred by participating shelters which open their doors during extreme weather alerts.
If you don't watch TV, or listen to the radio, another way to find out about the alerts is via Twitter; BC Housing tweets the alerts. Scrolling through BC Housing's Twitter account, the most recent alert appears to have been yesterday. BC Housing has a few Web pages on the Extreme Weather Program, but none of them are designed to be a destination for people wanting to see the current extreme weather alert status for their community. The Weather Channel might mention them on their Alerts Web page; they don't list one today.
So besides Twitter and local media, Homeless people have to count on commonly accessed support services to notify them. I'm sure this works well on the north side of False Creek, in downtown Vancouver, and particularly on the Downtown Eastside, where the largest homeless population has access to the largest array of homeless support services.
On the south side of False Creek -- my side -- there are comparatively fewer of us homeless folk and not a lot of services. There is the bottle depot I go to every day though. Yesterday they had a nice big sign by the cash register announcing that an extreme weather shelter in a church was open on Larch Street. Wonderful, except the sign was still sitting there today. But I don't think that shelter is open tonight. Oh well, no system is perfect. Click the image to enlarge it.
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