(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

still waiting

Public hearing on temporary shelter adjourned, mum’s still the word on permanent one

Dec 5, 2023 | 5:09 PM

A decision on Red Deer’s temporary shelter will have to wait until next Monday.

On Monday this week, a public hearing to listen to various stakeholders on an extension of the site exception currently in place for the site at 5239 53 Avenue was held at Red Deer City Hall.

The public hearing garnered around 35 people who wanted to speak, but council only had time to hear from about 15 before the meeting had to be adjourned.

The current site exception for the site, which is operated by Safe Harbour Society, is effective until Feb. 1, 2024, previously approved for a two-year period.

The public hearing resumes Dec. 11 at 10:30 a.m. in council chambers. Speakers who were unable to attend the first portion are still welcome to attend and/or speak. No more written submissions are being accepted.

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This is all happening while Red Deerians await word on the location for a permanent shelter, long ago announced by the UCP government, and before that the NDP government, as having secured millions in provincial capital and operating funding.

Mayor Ken Johnston was unavailable to speak to the matter on Tuesday as the temporary shelter decision is still under public hearing rules. Council also discussed the permanent shelter matter in-camera at the meeting, but the details remain private.

In August this year, Johnston told rdnewsNOW at a downtown branding event that the permanent shelter issue looked to be coming to a head.

“I’m as frustrated as anyone else, but we are arriving at a shelter site decision. We are arriving at a solution that sustains the downtown and gives dignity to those who need that step forward in life, either through addiction, homelessness, poverty or trauma,” the mayor said.

“Our community and council have wrestled with it, but a part of this is to encourage our citizens to say ‘Hey, a culture exists here, there’s business being done here, people are making lives here, there are people in the parks here,’ but let’s not let perceptions or third-hand stories from time to time dissuade you from coming downtown.”

Johnston also said a permanent shelter would be “incongruent” with the downtown, which is effectively where the current temporary shelter is, in Railyards, adjacent to the downtown proper.

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“In April 2019, Alberta’s government made a capital commitment of $7 million to fund the construction of a new integrated shelter in Red Deer, which would receive operational funding from the province once zoning was determined,” says Heather Barlow, press secretary, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, in an updated statement to rdnewsNOW on Dec. 5. “The City of Red Deer is responsible for providing an appropriately zoned site from which to build and operate this shelter.”

rdnewsNOW will have further coverage of this matter after the public hearing concludes next week.

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