London, Ont., opens 2nd temporary overnight winter shelter Whereas in past years the City’s winter response relied on shelter system and volunteer groups overextending capacity limits, Dickins said this past winter they had to create more spaces in hotel rooms and create up shelter sites due to COVID-19.“We had never used hotels prior to that and the only reason we use hotels this winter was because the shelters were unable to accommodate everybody,” Dickins said.Dickins said through the new model they were able to better connect with unsheltered individuals and build up relations to work towards getting them set up with resources to get permanently housed.“We didn’t have a great deal of turnover in some of the hotels, as you would in a.