According to new report Last winters Royal Victoria Hospital’s Ross pavilion overflow shelter was a huge success.

The overflow shelter set up last January at the Ross Pavilion of the former Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal received 6,796 visits from 1,585 homeless guests during this past winter.

The Ross pavilion shelter was set up to absorb the overflow from city shelters, for people, including their pets, who had nowhere warm to stay during one of the coldest winters Montreal has seen in recent years.

During the 90 days, between January 15 and April 15, according to a report by the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (CIUSSS), the shelter was used 6,796 times by 1,402 men, 173 women and 10 transgender. The average users’ age was 46, and the was between 18 to 85 years old.

“We were able to make sure that people had a place to go, even if it was only for a couple of hours. It was also open to everybody,” Sam Watts, CEO of Welcome Hall Mission told CBC News, “We called it a high-accessibility overflow shelter. And it was something that had not been tried in Montreal. But it worked.”

The shelter was an initiative by Accueil Bonneau centre, Bon Accueil Mission, CIUSSS, Health Ministry, Maison du Père shelter, Old Brewery Mission, Patricia Mackenzie Pavilion, and the Welcome Hall Mission.

Read More: Starting January 15 the old Royal Victoria Hospital will house homeless people and their pets