Data Findings: Winter Warming Centers

Winter readiness surveys have been processed and we are excited to share some of the findings with you. In total, 459 residents of the DTES were surveyed - 243 were taken by residents of SRO and 216 at street level.

The focus of today’s article is to share findings particularly related to warming centers and the barriers residents have reported in accessing these centers. Residents were asked whether or not they had accessed warming centers in years prior. 56.7% of SRO residents stated that they had accessed a warming center as well as 65.7% of those as street level - by taking the average, we find that 61.7% of all surveyees had accessed these centers.

We also surveyed residents to see if they had any barriers accessing these warming centers. The data shows the largest barriers of access to be overcrowding of centers, distance of centers (particularly for those with mobility issues), and a lack of knowledge of center locations.

Taking an average of both SRO and street level surveys, 19.7% stated that centers were overcrowded, 17.5% reported an inability to access due to distance, and 34.6% indicated that they had no knowledge of where and how to access these centers. Overall 84.3% of surveyees, at both levels, reported having some barrier in accessing centers.

Charts and other data findings can be found in a more condensed format on the “Actions” section of our website.

Cheers,

The HTS Team