Surrey Establishes A Homeless Shelter

On Tuesday, a new 40-bed homeless shelter was opened in Guilford after going facing various questions about its closeness to an elementary school and a park. The shelter was finally refurbished after it passed the necessary criteria and will begin operations in the winter.

The Surrey provincial government also gave its support to the project with a $25,000 start-up fund to cover the renovations cost. Furthermore, the government will also give out $80,000 a month for the smooth running of the shelter.

The shelter is made up of a commercial kitchen, dining room, and separate areas for men and women, six rooms created purposely for couples.  The shelter will be under the charge of the Lookout Emergency Aid Society.

The shelters which will mainly cater for people going through Opioid Agonist Treatment are mostly couples.  They come as couples to give support to each other.

Most members of the Surrey council voted for the shelter to the open only if the project is subjected to review at the end of its first year.

According to Mayor Linda Hepner, it was a huge challenge to find a location that was not close to a park since the city is well known for having lots of parks. She went on adding if the project becomes fruitful as the previous Boulevard winter shelter program then it will be a huge success for the council.

Although proposals have been put forward for permanent shelters and have already been approved, there will be temporal winter shelters until the permanent shelters are erected.

The Boulevard shelter which started as a winter shelter now operates throughout the year as the program was a success and has catered for 40 people in the last few months.

The new Surrey shelter will become part of the 230 shelters that are operated in the city every night.