Hello Red Deer. I am so happy to be able to connect with you all in this format. One of the top priorities of council is to be able to connect with our citizens and provide information to you – the people that matter the most to us, the people who entrusted us with these positions of leadership. My council colleagues and I are committed to keeping you, our valued citizens, informed and connected to what is going on in our community, what is on the table at our city council meetings, and what is on the horizon.
This month alone we have tackled some big issues and made some great progress for our community. On Jan. 10 at a special council meeting, council unanimously approved a six-month transitional housing pilot project to help Red Deer’s most vulnerable. The project, which is expected to start sometime in the first quarter of 2022, has the goal of diverting at least 35 people away from local shelters into transitional homes, and then into permanent housing. Council also committed to increasing our advocacy efforts to the provincial government for more permanent housing supports, because we can’t do this alone.
Transitional housing is designed to shift people who are experiencing homelessness into a supportive environment. It is designed to reduce shelter populations or prevent people from having to access shelters in the first place. I am optimistic, and excited for this transformative housing pilot project to take hold in our city, and influence change.
What this means for the community is that each time we support a piece of our social infrastructure, we enable progress towards the long-term result, which in this case is having sufficient resources to be able to provide our most vulnerable people the supports they need most.
Our council’s commitment is to bring sustainability and transformational change to the way we manage social supports, to the best of our ability. Through working collaboratively with our agencies, our businesses, and the province, we will drive towards that result. The status quo is not working, we know this as your council, and is one of the reasons I ran for mayor.
Approving this housing pilot program also laid the groundwork for discussions on the temporary shelter extension conversation. On Jan. 17, council held a public hearing regarding the temporary shelter at Cannery Row, to discuss the option of extending operations there for two years. We heard from several members of our community, and we truly appreciate the time taken to participate in this process, especially given this emotional topic.
Council made a fulsome decision to extend the temporary shelter for two years, and next week, will consider extending the mitigation strategies implemented in the Railyards neighbourhood in 2020 for an additional two years. During this meeting, consideration will also be given to the development permit and business license, which will condition the operations of the shelter. Having a two-year extension approved enables us to put those plans in place – the good neighbour strategies, the social enterprize strategies, strategies stemming from a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessment, for example, that will enable us to proceed in a much more orderly manner and a much more sustainable manner, than what we have had in the past.
I am encouraged and optimistic by the moves made this month, as our frequent stops along the path of finding a solution to housing and homelessness in the past really took away from our ability to work together. Our community has an opportunity to come together now, certainly over the next couple of years, to work on sustainable solutions that align with our Housing First approach, more so than we have ever had before because of the benefits this two-year extension could provide.
I want to take a moment to say to the business community, that you have been heard – your frustrations and your desires. Your council will work with you and for you in a sustainable and structured form to restore social provision to our downtown and revitalize our businesses at the same time. It’s going to take all of us coming to the table to be able to do that, so we ask for your patience and support to be able to bring a sustainable solution to the problems we all want solved for the benefit of the downtown and the community.
Your council has certainly hit the ground running since the election and are incredibly optimistic about not only the challenges ahead, but the opportunities they present. Work is also underway to develop Council’s Strategic Plan, to establish our priorities as a council and our vision for the community. We look forward to connecting in with our public on that in the coming months to ensure we are meeting the needs of our community, so it is meaningful for all of us.
We will also continue to advocate to the other levels of government for issues affecting Red Deer, including continuing to advocate for emergency ambulance dispatch, and the expansion of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, to name only a few.
Thanks to the Red Deer Advocate for the opportunity to engage with you, Red Deer. I look forward to connecting in with you each month to share what is going on in our community.
Mayor Ken Johnston