The former temporary warming shelter located next to Safe Harbour Society that will soon be relocated to the Red Deer Emergency Services training grounds for use as classroom space. (City of Red Deer).

By Sheldon Spackman

making good use

Former temporary warming shelter building moving to emergency services training grounds

Jul 21, 2020 | 12:00 PM

A temporary building previously used as a warming shelter next to Safe Harbour Society is being given to Red Deer Emergency Services (RDES) for its training grounds.

Approval for the building’s relocation was given by Red Deer city council on Monday.

The building had been used as a temporary warming shelter since 2015, but has been empty since a new shelter opened earlier this year at the Cannery Row building in order to meet physical distancing requirements from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cannery Row location has been secured by Safe Harbour until March 2021, with discussions continuing with the province for a new location for a permanent shelter.

With a future need for additional classroom space, officials with RDES expressed interest in acquiring the mobile units for its 78 Street Crescent training grounds.

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Total cost for relocating the units is approximately $75,000.

The City of Red Deer has reached out to the Government of Alberta requesting up to $25,000 to be utilized from the Outreach and Support Services (OSSI) Initiative grant for their removal from Safe Harbor’s property. Red Deer Emergency Services will be contributing $40,000, while the remainder will be allocated from the City Manager’s capital contingency fund.

Councillor Michael Dawe says the idea is one that was well thought out.

“There’s been a lot, first, to minimize the cost of the initiative,” said Dawe. “Secondly, we’re often accused of just disgarding things, not looking for constructive re-use. In this case, we’ve looked for a constructive re-use that not only makes sense, but potentially reducing costs for the City in the future.”

Councillor Ken Johnston says after stepping in to help Safe Harbour establish the temporary warming shelter in 2015, the organization has done a great job of maintaining it.

“Overnight shelters were not part of the continuum of care,” remarked Johnston. “The City found itself in a situation where it had an obligation, which it embraced to the tune I think of about $675,000 to put those buildings in place, which was at that time, a download from the province because they were not in the space of providing that and so we stepped forward and did it.”

Mayor Tara Veer acknowledged that what started out as a temporary, one-year fix, turned into a five-year commitment.

“I’m pleased to see the removal of the building, but again, the removal of what was intended to be a temporary building is only possible because of the provincial commitment to build a 24/7 emergency shelter,” added Veer. “I look forward to seeing progress on that file in the future, and again, noting the bigger space at Cannery Row, we’re not seeing the same level of spill-over into the streets and parks because of the sufficient space there is year. There still is some, but not to the extent we’ve seen in previous years.”

Related: Province to fund permanent shelter space in Red Deer