Skip to content

Year in Review: Shelter-related zoning bylaw amendments approved, OPS to close

Red Deer city council has paved the way to extending the operation of the temporary shelter for another two years. Following a public hearing on Dec.
34344659_web1_211206-RDA-Cannery-Row-shelter_1

Red Deer city council has paved the way to extend the operation of the temporary shelter for another two years.

Following a public hearing on Dec. 2, council approved a Zoning Bylaw Amendment that, if the required development permits are approved, will result in extension of the temporary shelter’s operation at 5239 53 Ave. until May 1, 2027. (The temporary shelter has been open since March 2020 and is operated by the Safe Harbour Society — it had been granted permission to remain there until May 2025 under a sunset clause.)

This amendment also includes the removal of supervised consumption service permissions at 5233 54 Ave., the expansion of the site to add emergency shelter as a use into an adjacent unit at the temporary shelter site (5239 53 Ave.) for the winter season, and additional capacity for detoxification and overnight shelter at 5246 53 Ave.

"From a pragmatic sense, this was a decision that we had to make in the context of the existing bylaw having about six months of shelf life on it," Mayor Ken Johnston said following the Dec. 2 meeting.

"I thought council landed in a good place, balancing the concerns of the community while also allowing Safe Harbour and its team to make those imprints that they want."

Perry Goddard, Safe Harbour Society executive director, said there's plenty the nonprofit organization can accomplish over the next two years.

"We're already starting," Goddard said.

"We've got recovery coaches in (the shelter) — we've trained 10 or staff as recovery coaches too. We're changing how we operate internally. We're expanding some of our programs, like the Indigenous program and Wellbriety. We've got a bigger presence in the shelter to help people move forward in their journey. We're starting to restructure and reprogram based on the changing needs and requirements. It's changing constantly, so we've got to change too."

It was also announced this year that the overdose prevention site will close in spring of 2025. 

Since October 2018, the Red Deer overdose prevention site has been operating at a temporary site in an ATCO trailer in the parking lot next to the Safe Harbour detox building. Earlier 2024, Red Deer city council put forward and passed a motion requesting a transition of the drug consumption site to instead implement options focused on health, wellness and recovery.

In response, the province announced $3.4 million towards new services, including:

— A Mobile Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic operated by Recovery Alberta in the Safe Harbour homeless shelter parking lot to provide screening, diagnosis, referral to services, access to the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program, education, naloxone kits and needle exchange.

— Recovery coaches in and around the shelter to provide outreach services.

— Enhancements to medically supported detox capacity in partnership with Safe Harbour.

To address overdoses, a Dynamic Overdose Response Team of paramedics and licensed practical nurses will monitor a designated area of Safe Harbour Society's shelter, as well as the surrounding block.

Unlike Recovery Alberta's overdose prevention site, where people can use their drugs and access medical interventions if necessary, people will not be able to bring drugs to use at the shelter. 



Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
Read more