Salvation Army offers hundreds of extra shelter beds against autumn chill

The Dutch Salvation Army made 568 extra shelter available across the Netherlands on Monday night. The organization wants to make sure that every homeless person in the country has a place to shelter from the autumn chill, the Telegraaf reports.

Most of the extra beds were placed in the large cities, for example Amsterdam got 200 extra beds and Rotterdam got 195. In smaller towns the extra beds were placed in the existing shelters. But in large cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, separate locations were opened. 

This forms part of the Netherlands' winter regulation, which is implemented when temperatures drop below zero outside the regular winter period. The GGD health services in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague jointly decide when it is too cold to sleep outside.

The four large cities already announced the extra beds for homeless people on Friday. Amsterdam opened its winter shelters a few days ahead of schedule. Normally the winter shelter in the Dutch capital is open from December 1st to April 1st, regardless of the temperatures. 

Monday night was the coldest autumn night of this century in the Netherlands, with temperatures dipping to -6.6 degrees at De Bilt and even -11.9 degrees in Enschede.