Manager of Shelters: Don McTavish

Streetlink Emergency Shelter

Streetlink is located at 1634 Store Street (250-383-1951) and provides 80 beds of emergency shelter for temporarily or chronically homeless adults. Clients receive referrals, hygiene services, mental health services, housing advocacy, community liaison, and crisis and life skills counseling. Read more about Streetlink's services .

Sandy Merriman House - Emergency Shelter for Women

This women-only shelter provides 25 safe and supportive shelter beds, hygiene services and drop-in facilities for women including counseling and access to health care for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Sandy Merriman House is located at 809 Burdett Street (250-480-1408).

Next Steps Transitional Shelter

The Next Steps Transitional Shelter , located at 2317 Dowler Place in North Park, provides an opportunity for 15 emergency shelter clients to access the resources and services they need to get their lives back on track. Such services include housing, employment, financial, life skills, and mentorship, as well as physical and mental health services. Our experienced staff will work closely with individual participants to develop personal action plans designed to help them move to a better place to live their lives.

Next Steps Shelter Inspires Tony's Creativity from Victoria Cool Aid Society on Vimeo. This story provided courtesy of Shaw TV Victoria.

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Extreme Weather Shelters 

The Extreme Weather Protocol is a community program involving Cool Aid and other shelter providers, faith groups, social service agencies, fire and police, working together to increase the number of emergency shelter beds available during acute winter weather conditions of heavy wind, heavy rain, snow and temperatures of zero or below. This initiative was first introduced after a severe cold snap in January 2004, when the City's Silver Threads building was used as a short-term emergency shelter.

When extreme weather conditions are predicted and year-round shelter beds are full, participating organizations implement the Extreme Weather Protocol by opening up additional shelters and moving to overflow beds. Shelter capacity expands space by 115 emergency mats, including 30 mats for youth from November to April.

Shelter and Transitional Housing on Ellice Street

The Victoria Cool Aid Society, with funding from the province’s BC Housing, and land supplied by the City of Victoria, is proposing to construct a new, purpose-built, emergency shelter with transitional housing in Burnside Gorge. The new facility will better house and support clients that currently stay at the much smaller Streetlink shelter plus create the region’s first shelter units for homeless families.