City considers small shelter camps
Clusters would serve as a bridge to permanent solutions: councillor
Small encampments run by the city could be tested out in Edmonton this summer for people experiencing homelessness.
City staff are looking into a temporary shelter pilot — such as tents or other mobile structures — following a council vote on Monday. Different options and costs will be included in a report to council due July 4.
Coun. Anne Stevenson, who pitched the idea, told council she knows it isn't a perfect solution but what's happening right now isn't working.
“For me, the crisis is so urgent we need to be trying as many different things as we can,” she told councillors prior to the vote. “I think that there is a potential for this to make lives better for a small number of people in our community and it's worth pursuing on that basis.”
Bringing back a large encampment like the one in Rossdale in 2020 isn't what Stevenson is looking to do. Instead, she envisions a small camp with five to 10 tents, along with basic amenities like washrooms, showers, and food, and onsite support from other social and housing agencies, that can serve much like a bridge shelter until more permanent housing is available.
Stevenson said the idea is to offer an alternative to the cycle of encampments being taken down and replaced again hours later.
“That does not meet the needs of surrounding businesses and community members. It's also not serving the needs of the folks who are sheltering in encampments either,” she told Postmedia. “This motion is really about exploring some small-scale solutions, with also the intent that these would be opportunities to get people ready to move into the permanent supportive housing units that are opening up later this summer.”
Monday's decision came after councillors voted to increase patrols and remove encampments last month. A staff report recommended against a city-run encampment.
TENTS OR SOMETHING ELSE?
Coun. Tim Cartmell supported Monday's motion but wants to see something like trailers, or another hard-sided mobile shelter used instead of tents.
“It's relatively easy to service, relatively easy to install ... I would be much more supportive of going down that road than to provide an empty lot to erect a bunch of tents on,” he told council.
Coun. Keren Tang thinks the motion duplicates some work she already asked city staff to do, but does so without involving people who live in encampments in creating a solution.
“I'm not really hearing this conversation with people who are ultimately going to be affected by this. And I think the approach there (would be) let's start by talking to people first, rather than assuming that this is going to be (the solution),” she said.
Tang also worries this isn't the solution desired by members of the Chinatown community when they asked the city to intervene.
MAYOR AND PREMIER MEET ON SAFETY PLAN
Meantime, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi met with Premier Jason Kenney and other officials to discuss the city's safety plan on Monday morning.
Sohi told reporters discussions were “productive” with the premier, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro and Labour and Immigration Minister Kaycee Madu, and he's hopeful they can find common ground.
“This meeting gave me hope as well that there is a desire for the province and the city to work together towards a shared goal of building safer communities and healthy communities for all of us,” he said.
The Alberta government announced in a news release it's committed to working with the city to refine and improve the safety plan. The mayor was given a letter reviewing the plan from Alberta's director of law enforcement, but it wasn't released publicly.
The city, on Monday, also took steps toward continued funding for a hub for police and other agencies set to open in Chinatown in the coming weeks.
Councillors asked city staff to work with the Edmonton Police Commission on a business plan for running the Healthy Streets Operations Centre in Chinatown beyond August and come back with a plan for approval.