Steinbach Community Outreach (SCO) is reporting an exponential increase in the number of people accessing supports through its programs.

Myra Gerbrandt is the Drop-in Centre Director and she says they have doubled the number of people they serve during the past year.

Recently, they have noticed an increase in the number of reports about homeless camps set up in our community.

initial; float: none; width: 100%;" role="figure" />Myra Gerbrandt with produce donated this fall. She says SCO could really use monetary donations right now.

It was broken up, leaving them to find less noticeable places to live. 

“Now, we’re getting lots of calls of different sightings because they’re not just all in one place,” she explains. “They’re finding various other places to try and stay warm. And whether it’s a dumpster or behind a building somewhere.”

Gerbrandt says people without a home are just trying to stay warm, and it’s hard to know there are people living outdoors, especially in this extremely cold weather.

“We don’t have any other resources to help them,” she says. “There's no place for them to go and they’re just trying to stay warm.”

Gerbrandt is excited to see progress on SCO’s affordable housing project that was recently endorsed by city council.

The province is providing a grant for more than $1-Million to address housing needs within our community.