450+ reports made about Lethbridge encampments between June and December ’23

This year’s approach to the city’s encampment strategy will include the integration of a pair of city organizations.

At the May 14th Lethbridge City Council meeting, councillors approved several strategy updates including making The Watch, which is a volunteer-based branch of the Lethbridge Police Service focused on the city’s core, and Community Social Development part of the plan. The addition of the two organizations to the plan increases the support to both officials dealing with the encampments and those living in them.

Other updates to the strategy included adding a seasonal triage worker, who will join the three full-time positions which are already in place and better clarification on the different tiers of encampments in the city.

This will be the second season that the strategy is in place since the initial approval by council last May. According to a report presented to council, between June and December of last year, there were 455 calls made to Lethbridge 311 from the community about encampments along with 207 reports for debris, 176 reports for biohazards, and 140 reports for needles.

The highest number of encampments last year were seen in the downtown area, with a number also reported in the city’s north and south sides.

According to the city, there was just over $350,000 left over from the $903,460 budgeted for the encampment strategy last year and the surplus money is being carried forward to this year.