MONTREAL - For Montreal's vulnerable homeless population, the failure to find a place to sleep could be a death sentence.
So the city's homeless shelters now make an extra effort to ensure that nobody is left out in the cold.
The city's three big shelters --The Welcome Hall Mission, Old Brewery Mission and Maison du pere -- now co-ordinate vacancies at their 640 combined beds.
The three work together to share information on vacancies and offer a shuttle-bus service that allows the homeless to sleep at a different shelter when the one they arrive at is full.
In the past, a homeless person's attempt to get a bed for a night involved guesswork. Shelters would simply turn away those for whom there was no room.
"Everyone was working on their own, so one would be full and one wouldn't be full," said Cyril Morgan of the Welcome Hall Mission.
The shelters also help their clientele dodge the dangerously cold climes by opening early whenever the weather hits -10 or lower.
"They can come in this room and wait," said France Desjardins of the Maison du Pere. "We quickly accommodate the 170 people and they go to showers and change and then go relax in our big hall and wait for dinner."
The shelters employ technology to share information about accommodation availabilities but they also rely on their clientele to tell others that it's not worth risking a painful and potentially life-threatening night outside in the intense cold.
"We also ask the guys to talk between themselves and tell them go to the shelters, come in and stay warm," said Morgan. "We don't want to find anyone dead on a bench."
