Vancouver is waiting for the provincial government to decide whether it wants to continue funding homeless shelters in the city.

“Everything could shut down June 30, as far as we know,” Coun. Kerry Jang, a member of the city’s now defunct Homeless Emergency Action Team, told the Straight.

In a meeting on May 5, council approved Jang’s motion to direct staff to work with the provincial government, the private sector, and nonprofit groups to extend the five shelters opened through HEAT’s initiative to April 30, 2010.

In a phone interview, Jang noted that Mayor Gregor Robertson recently spoke with B.C. premier Gordon Campbell but couldn’t say if the continued provincial funding for the shelters was taken up at all by the two.

The city, province, and a private foundation previously pooled $1.5 million to operate shelters through the winter. The fund was good until March 31, and the province agreed to provide money to keep the five shelters going until the end of June this year.

“We’d like to know what the province’s intentions are,” Jang said. “We’ve asked them to support the shelters through next winter because we’re anticipating that they will be needed. And this is because there is no permanent housing available yet—won’t be for a few years.”

Jang noted that even during good weather, the shelters are crammed with the homeless and some people are even getting turned away due to lack of space.

Downtown residents have created a group called Concerned Citizens for False Creek North, which is calling for more consultation on the location of homeless shelters.