This Month with Mayor Ken Johnston: August 2022

1. I would like to know if or why have we not reached out to Medicine Hat, a city that has supposedly ended their homelessness problem, and asked what they are doing. I think rather than reinvent the wheel, we should ask places that have solutions and see if they would work in Red Deer. – Kim, Oriole Park

The City of Red Deer is part of a “7-Cities on Housing and Homelessness” collaborative. Here, the lead organizations responsible for the implementation of local homelessness support plans in the 7-Cities (Calgary, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Wood Buffalo and Red Deer) work together to implement strategies to reduce and end homelessness. Since 2001, this group has assisted with the coordination of local plans at a systems level and share best practices on what has worked successfully.

Alberta was the first province with a plan to end homelessness. This plan relied heavily on a “Housing First” approach. “Housing First” is an approach to ending homelessness that focuses on first moving individuals into independent and permanent housing. In 2018, the 7-Cities reviewed the first decade covered by Alberta’s plan to end homelessness. It found:

· Approximately 23,000 homeless Albertans who were experiencing homelessness have been housed with varying degrees of support to match their needs

· With a cumulative retention rate of 69 per cent, Housing First programs have helped ensure almost 7 out of every 10 assisted Albertans have remained housed

· An estimated $2.4 billion has been saved in provincial expenditures, through reduced rates of non-optimal use of public services (such as emergency rooms, acute care, police resources and the justice system)

Red Deer is encouraged by Medicine Hat’s great efforts in reaching a functional-zero level of chronic homelessness, and continues to implement similar strategies including a Quality-by-Names list and continuous improvement cycles.

Red Deer to receive additional $2.24 million from feds to reduce homelessness

Permanent shelter site locations narrowed down to eight

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2. From afar, what is your take on how the UCP leadership race has unfolded? – rdnewsNOW

Any time an opportunity to see democracy in action arises, including that of electing a leader for one of our provincial parties, I watch closely and look forward to seeing the outcome. The provincial level of government has such tremendous impact on our community, and I know that when it is time for Albertans to step up, listen to what each candidate’s vision is, they’ll decide who they believe is the best fit for moving forward.

The successful candidate in the UCP leadership race will be the one who leads our province in the coming years in advance of our next provincial election. It’s a big decision, and I believe that voters will pick the candidate most suited to successfully leading the province through any ups and down and advocating for us all on a federal level.

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3. Where do you stand on the RCMP vs. Alberta Provincial Police debate? What are your biggest concerns, and if the province makes the switch, how much funding should municipalities receive? – rdnewsNOW

Replacing the RCMP with provincial police will likely be very costly without addressing the biggest problems related to crime and punishment. I believe it is unclear at this time on what benefits making this switch would bring to The City of Red Deer, or what the cost might be to the province or municipalities.

What I do know is that the justice system is really the system that needs the greatest overhaul. It doesn’t really matter who is doing the policing when we currently have large backlogs and caseloads that are overwhelming our Crown prosecutors.

Public safety and reducing crime is a high priority for City Council, and we will continue to partner with the Red Deer RCMP to prioritize the serious crime issues our community is facing. We know community safety is a shared responsibility and we are united with the Red Deer RCMP in serving citizens and addressing issues impacting crime levels in our community.

Alberta RCMP head not supporting provincial police proposal

New website details what a provincial police force would look like in Alberta

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4. Talk about high-speed rail connecting Edmonton to Calgary, presumably with a stop in Red Deer, has resurfaced over the last couple years. Do you think this would be a good idea, and if so, how much could it benefit Red Deer? Are you or have you been involved in any talks related to this? – rdnewsNOW

We are looking forward to any announcement coming about the potential high-speed rail connecting Edmonton and Calgary. We believe Red Deer will benefit greatly from a stop here; making the two larger cities more accessible to central Alberta will open the doors for those who want to live in our community while still maintaining a job in Edmonton or Calgary.

This will not only boost our local economy through our local businesses, but also the housing market. And when we look at it from the perspective of accessing our community in a safe, convenient manner, those from the Edmonton and Calgary areas can easily enjoy what we have to offer – such as unique locally owned shops, major entertainment, and sporting events, or even just spending a day enjoying our beautiful parks and trails.

“FluxJet” unveiled: proposed Calgary-Edmonton line could travel 1,000 km/hr

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the Mayor and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.

by Ken Johnston, Mayor of Red Deer

This Month with Mayor Ken Johnston: August 2022

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