Homeless funding cuts hit several Alberta cities

Government committed to protecting vulnerable Albertans, minister says

CALGARY— An interim budget passed by the provincial government has resulted in cuts to homeless programs in several Alberta cities.

On Wednesday, Star Calgary reported the Calgary Homeless Foundation would see its funding from the provincial government cut by 8 per cent this year — a $3.2-million reduction.

Now advocates for the homeless in other parts of the province have said they’re facing cuts to their programs as well. Homeward Trust Edmonton, a not-for-profit that works to end homelessness in Alberta’s capital city, said it saw its provincial funding cut by $1.4 million — roughly 5 per cent of the total amount it gets from the province. Susan McGee, CEO of Homeward Trust, said that while the group funds agencies around Edmonton, none of those groups will be negatively affected.

She said she’s waiting to see how much funding will be provided to homelessness programming in this fall’s provincial budget.

“There’s a lot of work going on, as we understand it, internally within the government to best understand where the funding priority should be, and we’ll continue to work on making sure that we provide the information that we need to around the value that we provide as a sector in our work,” McGee said.

Alberta’s point-in-time count in 2018 found 5,735 people were experiencing homelessness.

More than half were in Calgary, where 2,911 people were counted. The next highest total was 1,971 people in Edmonton.

The government of Alberta did not provide an explanation Friday about how it decided on the final amount to cut from funding for homeless programs.

The cuts are a result of a temporary interim supply arrangement passed this summer until an official budget from the United Conservative government is introduced this fall.

“Our government is committed to protecting vulnerable Albertans, while at the same time getting the province’s finances back on track in order to sustain our vital programs for future generations,” Community and Social Services Minister Rajan Sawhney said in a statement.

The provincial government provides annual funding to community organizations in seven Alberta cities for programming and supports that tackle homelessness.

Local governments or community organizations are then responsible for implementing localized plans.