Details about potential sites for Red Deer’s permanent homeless shelter will be discussed by city councillors in a closed meeting on Monday.
Ninety-six potential sites were identified with input from a commercial realtor, Red Deerians and community partners. These were assessed, based on Council’s Site Evaluation Matrix and the following is a breakdown of those sites:
- 50 were for-sale sites, recommended by commercial realtor.
- Five unlisted sites were also recommended by the realtor.
- 13 sites were on City of Red Deer or provincially-owned land.
- 22 were publicly recommended sites.
- Six sites were put forward during a public call for sites.
The 96 sites were examined with a site assessment that was shared with Council at their meeting on July 18.
Twelve sites were then moved to the next phase, towards a technical assessment. These 12 sites were put through a more comprehensive review, including administrative analysis, scoring and site-related specifics.
On Monday, during an in camera meeting, Council will receive more detailed information about the top 12 sites, as well as the full list of 96 sites.
The site locations and detailed information will not be shared publicly at this time to protect the economic interest of potential parties (including site owners) who are involved.
On Monday, Council will determine the next steps in the process of selecting a site to recommend to the province, which will include their own site assessment based, on the site evaluation matrix.
Council aims to select a site to recommend to the province on Aug. 29. However, if additional technical information is required on the current 12 sites, or additional sites identified by Council, the target date may be pushed out by a minimum of two weeks.
For more information on the future shelter, visit www.reddeer.ca/shelter.
To view the public council report, please visit the agenda packet on the city’s website, page 102-111 for shelter report.