VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Shadow Lines Transportation Group is finding a new use for an old container and providing some welcome shelter for Vancouver’s homeless population.
The Temporary Homeless Relief Shelter will provide 240 shelter beds per month for Vancouver area homeless people. The mobile shelter was created out of a used 40-ft. shipping container and is divided into eight heated rooms large enough to accommodate a homeless person and their cart or two homeless people.
The mobile facility can be set up and taken down in just 30 minutes and also includes a washroom and a diesel furnace that provides hot water and heat. Each room has bunk beds, reading lights and clothing hooks.
Each unit will also be surrounded by a six-foot fence structure with locking gate to ensure the safety of its occupants. The unit can be dropped off where there’s a homeless population at night and then picked up at dawn for transport to a day lot where it will be cleaned, disinfected and prepared for delivery for the next night.
The project was the brainchild of Shadow Lines president Rob Reid, who wanted to help out with the region’s homeless situation. Shadow Lines will operate the temporary shelter in cooperation with community support organizations but has volunteered to maintain and transport the shelter itself.
Nightshift Street Ministries will help run the shelter at night. Shadow Lines says it is looking at building two more similar shelters for Metro Vancouver as well as one for Calgary and one of Edmonton. A full report on the initiative will be available in upcoming issues of Truck News and Truck West.