Council approves emergency homeless sheltering plans

Calgary - City Council has endorsed administration plans for
this spring and next winter to deal with homeless sheltering
emergencies in Calgary. The City of Calgary will respond to
the need for emergency sheltering in the coming year by
working with the provincial government and the community,
including the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

The City of Calgary, Government of Alberta and Mustard Seed
Street Ministry opened a temporary emergency shelter located
on 16 Ave. and Centre St. N.E. in December 2006 due to
overcrowding at existing Calgary shelters. A commitment was
made to the community that the shelter would close no later
than April 1. The building also needs to be prepared for
demolition to make way for 16 Ave. widening.

“We fully realize the arrival of spring does not necessarily
mean the end of cold weather. So we are prepared should the
temperature drop significantly and there is not enough
capacity at existing shelters,” said Chris Branch, The City
of Calgary’s director of Disaster Social Services.

At the discretion of the Director of Disaster Services, who
is Fire Chief Bruce Burrell, The City of Calgary is prepared
to open and staff a temporary shelter this spring on an
emergency basis. The main criteria for opening an emergency
shelter would be that cold weather is posing an imminent
threat to lives and existing shelters are operating at full
capacity.

“Running shelters is not The City of Calgary’s primary
mandate. We are not in the homeless shelter business. But we
are in the emergency response business and we will act if
necessary,” Branch said.

For next winter, Council has also given administration the
green light to find a suitable facility (and begin securing
the necessary land use approvals) to establish a temporary
emergency shelter.

The City of Calgary will again formally request the
provincial government to fund this temporary shelter and
identify a non-profit operator.

Once a suitable facility is identified, The City of Calgary
will still have much work to do before next November. “We
can’t just open any available building and make it a shelter
overnight. Zoning, permits, amenities, transportation,
community acceptance, not to mention securing funding and
staffing all require due process and approvals.”  

In addition to responding to the need for temporary emergency
sheltering, The City of Calgary and Council will continue to
work with the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness, Calgary
Homeless Foundation, other key agencies, the private sector
and the provincial and federal governments.

Currently, the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness is
mobilizing the non-profit, public and private sectors in an
alliance to end homelessness. A plan is under development for
Calgary to shift the focus from just managing homelessness,
to ending it. 

Homelessness is a complex problem requiring a number of
solutions on many fronts. Success in other cities has been
based on programs including permanent housing for low-income
earners, targeted intervention for individuals at risk (e.g.
case management, eviction prevention, landlord-tenant
mediation), outreach to people living on the street,
workplace training programs and more.