Agencies that help the homeless are struggling to keep people indoors during a cold snap.

Snow and frigid weather have hit Calgary, with temperatures expected to fall to a low of –29 C this weekend.

The city of Calgary plans to turn a former furniture store on 16th Avenue NE into a temporary emergency winter shelter. But the project can't go ahead until a hearing is held at the end of the month into an appeal of a land use permit.

Meanwhile, shelters are turning to buses and indoor parking lots as temporary refuge from the cold.

Dermot Baldwin, head of the Calgary Drop-in Centre, said a man froze his toes as he walked from one shelter to another looking for a warm place to stay.

Baldwin said his centre is opening up an indoor parkade, stairwells, hallways and storage areas to the homeless.
 
"We're putting them up in every possible square foot of space so nobody has to suffer," he said.
 
Staff will put down extra mattresses at the Mustard Seed. The organization also has a warming shelter where people can sit in chairs overnight and three buses parked on the street.

Spokesman Floyd Perras said the city is looking for space that could be used for a couple of weeks to keep the homeless off the streets at night until the official temporary shelter opens.