Mark King says he has witnessed the scary situation of homelessness firsthand this winter.
He got a call about a man trying to stay warm outside the North Bay Museum.
"He was trying to get next to the heat vent on the lake side of the museum," explained King, who is the chair of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board.
"It is about 30 below and blowing about 25 km/h and he is trying to get warm. He had warm pants and boots, no gloves and he is underneath this flimsy little sleeping bag. I thought in my mind that this guy is going to die here.
"He couldn't move his arms, he couldn't move his feet or his legs. He couldn't stand up because we were trying to move him. The end result was we called 9-1-1 get EMS over here and take him to the hospital.
"If there had been no one out there that night, that guy would have died. He just did not have the ability to understand the danger he was in. When you get to that point it is deadly."
On bitterly cold nights like that, King believes they need more outreach workers on the street helping those who cannot or will not help themselves.
"We need to get people on the streets to help direct these people who don't understand," he said about getting workers from other agencies to assist.
"There is not a concerted effort with respect to outreach workers on the streets of North Bay. There were three volunteers out there handing out blankets and gloves, and hot chocolate to the individuals that were on the street."
Aside from the low barrier shelter on Chippewa Street, a warming centre has been set up through the Gathering Place next door at Northern Pines, in the basement of the former OPP building. The city has also opened up the bus terminal on Oak Street and the Gathering Place on Cassells Street has also opened its doors to the homeless to stay warm. King says they have access to hotels if the situation requires it.
King says it is an incredible challenge to try to solve the homeless dilemma.
"The overall issue that's taking place there is there are individuals that are out on the street are unable to comprehend any direction, probably past the next 10 minutes of their life. So they are unable to actually understand what is going on and it was really obvious," explained King.
