Ottawa shelters feeling demand during cold snap

Ottawa deals with blast of snow More winter weather moved through the capital this weekend, starting at a time of high demand for homeless shelters. CTV’s Natalie van Rooy

Another major snowfall hit the nation's capital this weekend, dumping around 19 centimetres of snow in some parts of the city.

At the Shepherds of Good Hope in the city's downtown core, which provides shelter and services for those experiencing homelessness, the demand on services is rising with the cold weather.

"There's more people every month, it seems to be multiplying," said Peter Gareau, manager of food services for the organization.

"A lot more people are coming in looking for clothing and warm boots, but luckily we've been able to provide."

Staff are working hard to keep the shelves stocked of food.

"We're doing about 600 meals a day on average," said Gareau.

"I think on an average month, we'll go through about $4,000 worth of bread in a month and that's just for sandwiches, because those will go through between 300 and 500 a day."

Gareau says they currently get over 4,000 kilograms of food from the Ottawa Food Bank each week, but in January, that will be cut. The food bank has said it is struggling to keep up with the demand in the city.

The Ottawa Food Bank issued a "declaration of emergency" last month about the number of people turning to the organization to put food on the table, warning it will need to cut food distribution 20 to 50 per cent next year unless it receives "immediate and sustained assistance" from all levels of government.

The Ottawa Hunger Report 2024 shows there were 556,000 visits to the Ottawa Food Bank and its associated agencies in 2023, with visits up 90 per cent from 2019. One in four households faced food insecurity in 2023, up from one in seven households in 2022, the report found.

More winter weather coming this week

The clean-up was in full swing on Sunday with plows busy clearing the roads and residents out shovelling.

"Right now, it's very wet and it's very heavy snow," said Roger Montcalm, who was shovelling his driveway.

Area roads and sidewalks were still slushy with stretches of slick ice in some parts.

"It was coming down pretty hard for a good three or four hours," said Montcalm. "I got up this morning and found all this lovely white stuff on the ground so just be careful out there."

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for Ottawa with freezing rain expected to move through the region on Monday.

Monday will see a high of -6 C with periods of snow. A low of -5 C and periods of snow or mixed precipitation is expected in the evening.