The city of Lethbridge is working to increase shelter space for people experiencing homelessness. General manager of community and social development Andrew Malcolm presented the Shelter Development Strategy to the cultural and social standing policy committee on June 15. He said the plan looks at the long term and works to address current barriers to shelter development in the city.
“We, like city council, business owners, landowners, residents and community members, see the impacts and the frustrations of growing homelessness, mental health and addictions in Lethbridge and this includes the impacts and frustrations of those that are deeply embedded and embattling with those complex situations. We further acknowledge that when we roll out strategies like the Downtown Clean and Safe strategy from 2019 and the Encampment Strategy, which was most recently approved a month ago, that these issues typically change and evolve. They don’t typically go away and so this leads to frustration,” Malcolm said.
He added each of these strategies has a specific goal and together can make an impact. Though new infrastructure could take 10-20 years to come to fruition, Malcolm said it is important to plan now.
Without the diversity and the opportunity for safe and secure shelter, we will continue to spend a lot of time, effort and resources moving issues around, which is why we again feel that this is very important,” he said.
The city traditionally has taken a hands-off approach to shelter and housing and left it to the province, but Malcolm pointed to specific ways council can make a difference. These include zoning city-owned land for potential social developments, banking land that can be used and funding including capital and operational.
The shelter development strategy encompasses various previous directions from council, including a long term shelter strategy, direction to look at other sites for an interim sober shelter and approval of $100,000 for exploration of a community care campus.
The committee carried a recommendation to go to council that included rescinding the allocation of $100,000 to explore a community care campus and reallocating the money to the shelter development plan. The recommendation also asks for city administration to provide quarterly updates on the plan.