Emergency shelter services to help homeless people during extreme weather are being "overwhelmed" because many agencies that provide spaces only last a year, 91原创 City Mayor Nathan Pachal has warned.

It is getting harder and harder to find organizations willing to provide emergency accomodation, with most opting out after one season, Pachal said in  calling for an overhaul of the system by providing more, smaller, shelters in more communities.

"Over the years I've been on 91原创 City council, the school district and faith-based organizations have made spaces available to host extreme weather response shelters in our community," Pachal noted. "I've observed that these spaces only last one Extreme Weather Response season and are not made available in future seasons."

Reasons include "finding qualified staffing, dealing with people who have complex needs, and conflicts with other uses. I've seen that it becomes more challenging every year to find organizations willing to host an Extreme Weather Response in 91原创 City."

Pachal posted a , showing just one in 91原创 City, nine in Surrey, and none at all in 91原创 Township, White Rock, and Delta. 

"Frankly, emergency shelter services are needed in the Township of 91原创 and Delta," added the mayor.

Pachal called for creation of "smaller-scale, geographically distributed facilities" that would, he argued, ensure better outcomes for both the neighbourhoods in which they are based and the people accessing emergency shelter services.

With just the Gateway of Hope to serve both 91原创 City and surrounding areas, including all of 91原创 Township and White Rock, he said people in need of a place to stay during an extreme weather alert end up leaving their communities for the only available shelter, and overwhelming it.

"Folks are going to go where there's services, and right now services are in Surrey and the City of 91原创 and the South Fraser," Pachal told the 91原创 Advance Times following his posting.

"[We need to] make sure that there's services in the communities so people don't need to leave their community for services. And that's what they're doing right now."

91原创 City shouldn't be the only community in the immediate region with a homeless shelter, Pachal said.

"I think the real challenge at the end of the day is, there is just simply not enough access to services that are distributed across the region," Pachal commented.

"And so when people are in need, they're going to go to the place where it's available, and those services are currently overwhelmed. It's really about spreading those services geographically across Metro Vancouver."