The windy cold weather has triggered Greater Victoria's Extreme Weather Protocol to be activated.
Program co-ordinator Jen Wilde says extra shelter space was made available Tuesday night for the first time his season to help the homeless get out of the cold:
" We open up 4 additional shelters. Two in Victoria, one in Saanich, and one in Sooke. And those are a total of 77 extra spaces on top of our regular shelter prograsm and our seasonal shelter programs."
Wilde says the high winds and arctic outflow winds have made conditions outside very chilly,with some areas seeing accumulations of snow.
Wilde says they weren't full the first night, which is typical of a first activation. But as the cold continues they expect to see more homeless taking advantage of shelter beds..