Fewer people than expected have been accessing community services in Whistler such as the Food Bank so far during the 2010 Olympics, though a handful of community members have taken advantage of temporary housing services.

While Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) has worked to offer additional services and programs through the Games, there hasn’t been the kind of need the operators expected, Greg McDonnell, executive director, wrote in an email to The Question.

“It’s been much quieter than I anticipated,” he said.

For example, a daily soup kitchen was planned, but McDonnell said, “there literally is no need.”

More access to the Food Bank has been offered, but usage has dropped significantly. Normally, food is distributed on the first and third Mondays of each month. During February, every Monday is a Food Bank day.

“Our numbers have dropped from 43 (people per Food Bank day) to only 13 last time,” McDonnell said.

WCSS staff members were also working to set up an emergency shelter in advance of the Games, which was ultimately not established. However, officials at Whistler Blackcomb (WB) stepped up to offer some beds in staff housing for people who may have been “booted out of their homes by greedy landlords,” McDonnell wrote.

To date, about eight individuals have been provided with temporary housing through the joint WCSS and WB Olympic housing strategy, he said.

To access the housing, people must pay the nightly WB rate ($15 to $20 per night) and be referred by WCSS outreach workers who are working and visible in the Village during Games-time, he said. The beds are available through the Paralympics in March, but the maximum stay is two weeks.

Outreach worker Davin Moore said people who’ve accessed the housing so far have been in a range of situations from landlord troubles to poor planning.

“(The housing) has been relatively well used in the last couple of weeks,” Moore said on Feb. 19.

For more info on WCSS services, visit www.mywcss.org.