City of Vancouver to close Creekside Community Centre warming centre

The warming centre at Creekside Community Centre will no longer be able to accommodate homeless people who want to protect themselves from freezing temperatures.

With the cold snap continuing and temperatures expected to dip to as low as -9 C in the Lower Mainland, many community centres around Vancouver have been serving as temporary warming shelters, but after drug paraphernalia was found inside and outside Creekside Community Centre in the Olympic Village neighbourhood, questions have been raised.

This morning, the City confirmed a child came into contact with a syringe and needle in the bathroom at Creekside Community Centre on Monday. The child was not injured.

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Malcolm Bromley, general manager with Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, says a decision has now been made to close the warming centre at Creekside Community Centre, but it has nothing to do with the syringe incident.

“Unfortunately, dealing with syringes and injectibles in Vancouver’s public spaces is, at times, common place,” Bromley said.

Bromley said their staff are not geared to run a 24/7 operation at the community centres, but some had to work very long hours since mid-December.

“As you can imagine, it takes a tremendous toll on staff and is very stressful,” he said.

So, Bromley says, a decision has been made over the Holidays to allow Creekside Community Centre staff to take a break.

WATCH: The Creekside Community Centre will no longer be used to help homeless people get out of the cold after the drug paraphernalia was found at the site. Jordan Armstrong reports.

2:22 City of Vancouver closes emergency warming centre after drug needles found

However, the demand for warming centres is expected to increase during the cold snap and even though Creekside Community Centre won’t serve as a warming centre anymore, a warming centre at Carnegie Community Centre will be opened for the first time Tuesday, along with existing warming centres at Britannia and West End Community Centres.

The city estimates there are around 2,000 people who benefit from warming centres.