VANCOUVER - Emergency shelters are being prepared across Metro Vancouver as dipping temperatures and icy car windows herald the approach of winter.

The provincial government has announced funding for 560 extreme weather shelter spaces across Metro Vancouver, beginning immediately and continuing until March.

The Ministry of Natural Gas Development, which is responsible for housing, says the spaces will be activated when communities, including Surrey and New Westminster, issue an extreme weather alert.

The province says it is providing $1.6 million this winter for almost 1,200 spaces in about 100 communities across B.C.

A release from the ministry says the extreme weather spaces in Metro Vancouver are in addition to more than 1,000 permanent, year-round shelter beds in the region.

The 2014 Metro Vancouver homeless count found just under 6,000 local residents, including children, have nowhere to live.