SHELTER IN A STORM

It’s easy to empathize with area residents and businesses who tried in vain to overturn a City of Edmonton permit allowing the Hope Mission to redevelop the Herb Jamieson Centre.

The current building has permanent beds and temporary mats to take in 400 homeless men every night.

But it’s what some of the shelter’s clients do in the daytime that concerns neighbouring merchants, including one Chinatown bakery owner who complained about panhandling, vandalism and other chronic problems that scare away customers. Developers considering erecting a new hotel and condos in the gritty area just north of Rogers Place also oppose rebuilding the shelter and said they might abandon their plans if the project goes ahead.

The city’s Subdivision and Development Appeal Board listened to their concerns Wednesday but decided to allow the not-forprofit agency to demolish and rebuild the shelter. They really had no other realistic option right now.

It would be a shame if the shelter frightened away much-needed investment and visitors for such an underachieving neighbourhood, but the fact is the shelter was there first — it dates back to 1954. The land it sits on is already zoned for institutional uses, which includes a shelter.

According to Hope Mission officials, it’s a safety-net facility that will be needed even if the city ends chronic homelessness because it serves as a hostel for transients, most of whom are itinerant workers rather than long-term homeless.

The Hope Mission has a right to rebuild its outdated and cramped facility to better meet the needs of its users — if its backers successfully raise enough private and government money to proceed. That redevelopment would improve safety inside by creating a new open concept with clear sight lines for staff and the men sleeping there.

Outside, the redevelopment also promises significant upgrades in esthetics and public impact from the current eyesore. According to one report, a new rooftop garden would allow clients to spend time there instead of on the street. The rebuild would add boulevard trees to an otherwise barren streetscape. It would also be set further back from the sidewalk.

But the opposition to this project serves as a pressing reminder to the city and province of their lofty goals to end homelessness within a decade. The neighbourhood’s pushback also serves notice to other communities that they must get used to the idea that future social-services facilities and non-market housing should no longer be shoehorned into one quarter of central Edmonton and will be spread throughout the city.