The homeless camped outside the Granville Street HEAT shelter after in got shut down last July.

City of Vancouver staff just wrapped up a briefing on the reopening of the second temporary HEAT shelter for the winter – and yes, it is the infamous Granville Street shelter that created all the controversy last year.

B.C. Housing has committed $1.2 million towards temporary winter shelters so that the four shelters can stay open until the end of April.

Now in spite of the fact that the city seems poised to incorporate much more public consultation into the mix, I expect that Vancouver NIMBY residents will once again show up in force to protest against the “undesirable” homeless from co-habitating within their respective neighbourhoods.  Although, one must say that this time around, the outcry (Mount Pleasant thus far) seems to be far less heated than last year.

Regardless, both Housing Minister Rich Coleman and Mayor Gregor Robertson are pushing ahead with their plan, determined to ensure that people are kept off the street with the colder temperatures to prevent tragedies like the kind thR befell Tracey last year.

I can already hear the future complaints about how the City should have engaged in far more consultation before moving ahead with such a plan.  I say BS.

If the Province only announced funding in mid-December, then there is only so much consultation that can be accomodated before action is required.  Is there supposed to be months of public meetings, accounting for nearly half of the scheduled shelter time framce, before spaces can be opeded up?  That is simply not an option if the whole point of the exercise is to keep people safe from the elements.

Let’s see if we can get through this winter without someone once again dying on the streets.