The first weekend without a full Out of the Cold program running in Waterloo Region in many years has come and gone.

The program, which ran at different church sites in Kitchener and Waterloo each night of the week during winter, is down to two participating churches this year.

Anticipating a need for emergency shelter services, the YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo agreed to open its doors for a 45-bed nightly shelter.

That shelter ran its first night Saturday, with 13 men and one woman in attendance.

“It was very quiet,” said YWCA CEO Elizabeth Clarke.

The next night, 16 people showed up – a few of the same faces as Saturday, and a few new ones.

“They had no complaints. They said positive things about the setup and gave us every indication that they’d be back,” Clarke said.

Organizers of the previous Out of the Cold program had told Clarke they housed 70 to 80 people during peak periods, and 20 or so when the weather was more tolerable.

The YWCA plans to run its shelter only for one season.

After that, it’s hoped that the seeds of a more long-term strategy will begin to take hold among the region’s homeless population.

Details of that long-term strategy were presented to regional councillors Tuesday.

It’s a pilot project based on a successful American strategy, never before tried in Canada.

“We’ll have teams of volunteers go out … in the streets and also in emergency shelters … and do a 10-minute survey to get a gauge of a person’s health and needs,” said Van Vilaysinh, the region’s manager of homelessness and housing stability.

Once that data is gathered, Vilaysinh said, the goal is to push the homeless population toward more formal housing one at a time.

Outgoing Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr said he was pleased with the solution to a problem many thought may have been “insurmountable” when they first heard about it.

 “We have an opportunity here to set a new standard in how we care for those who are on the street,” he said.

“We can develop something in this community, as we have so many times over the decades … that can be replicated in other communities.”

In addition to the YWCA shelter, new additions to the region’s homelessness strategy for this winter include additional capacity at other shelters, more drop-in and meal centres and increased communication.