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Red Deer city council officially changes tack on homeless shelter, passing ball to the province

The new path Red Deer city council has chosen to try to advance a stymied permanent homeless shelter project won't necessarily make choosing a location any easier.
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(Advocate file photo)

The new path Red Deer city council has chosen to try to advance a stymied permanent homeless shelter project won't necessarily make choosing the location any easier.

Coun. Cindy Jefferies said this was the message she heard from the province after attending a meeting on April 22 with Mayor Ken Johnston and several government officials. These included Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams.

After four unsuccessful shelter sites were chosen by city council, councillors decided in March to change tack. They would no longer consider new locations for the permanent shelter until the government clarifies what it intends to build.

Mayor Ken Johnston stated he wants the provincial government to more fully explain its vision is for the project, and who will be the operator.

Since the shelter is essentially a provincial project, city council voted on Monday to ask the provincial government to put out a call for Expressions of Interest for a shelter operator. This current operator Safe Harbour and any other groups that might want to operate the new permanent shelter can then apply and contribute ideas for what the project could look like

Council previously stated its desire for an integrated permanent shelter with wrap-around services, including having housing, mental health and other supports right inside the shelter.

How many services are integrated into the new shelter could depend on what kind of operating budget the province establishes for the project. But a provincial spokesman was not immediately available on Monday to respond to whether a budgetary figure will be attached to the call for Expressions of Interest.

Coun. Jefferies told other councillors that Minister Nixon seemed "very open and happy" to go down this new road  — but he warned "that it won't necessarily find the location for you.... It won't be the magic to finding a spot."

Coun. Kraymer Barnstable recounted at Monday's meeting what a mammoth task it's been to consider about 130 potential shelter sites and to never arrive at one that's fully satisfactory.  "We keep hitting a wall, a dead end.... so at least this will get us out of that pattern."

It's been frustrating, said Coun. Bruce Buruma, but with burgeoning mental health, addictions and housing problems in the community, he believes it's up to council to help better educate the citizens about why a shelter is necessary and important.

The mayor hopes a provincial call for Expressions of Interest will broaden community understanding about what options exist for shelter models. That way when Red Deerians ask what they can expect with the new shelter, council will have some answers, he added.

“We have heard from citizens that it is difficult to support the location of a future shelter in Red Deer without understanding what it will be," Johnston has stated. "Our community wants to understand what services a future shelter may provide and how it will fit with our community.”