A recent photo of the under construction Red Deer Dream Centre, which is inside the former Lotus Nightclub building. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

$209,555

Red Deer Dream Centre secures federal funding

Aug 18, 2021 | 2:54 PM

The Red Deer Dream Centre is benefitting from a federal grant.

To be situated inside the former Lotus Nightclub building in downtown Red Deer, the Dream Centre (RDDC) will be a 40-bed residential treatment facility.

RDDC Board President Wes Giesbrecht shares the project is getting $209,555 from the federal Reaching Home program. Dollars will go towards capital renovations, which in the end will top $1 million.

Reaching Home, which is distributed through two streams — designated and Indigenous — is administered through the City of Red Deer’s Community Housing Advisory Board (CHAB).

CHAB makes recommendations to city council on Designated stream applications, and council makes a final decision, while Indigenous dollars are advised on by the Urban Aboriginal Voices Society.

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There is a disconnect, admits Giesbrecht when asked if receiving federal dollars may legitimize the project for some who remain on the fence.

“Our city needs to deal with this, and we have to do it well. We have to be leaders in this environment. The time is now to stand in that place where we can say we’ve put the money together, the city’s watched what we’ve been doing and they’re supporting it,” says Giesbrecht.

“Reality is that the City looks at this and says this will help clean up our streets, that we’ve done our due diligence, weathered the storm, and now raised 90 per cent of the capital, plus we’re funded about 70-75 per cent on a monthly basis.”

He acknowledges, however, that it will continue to be an uphill battle, as it has been since Giesbrecht’s team came out a couple years ago with the idea of the Red Deer Dream Centre.

“Until we’re operational, people can’t see the effects it will have,” he says. “I would dare say that if there’s any hesitancy still, it’s mostly due to a lack of understanding of what will actually take place and what people will be doing here. It’s our job to get the message out about what we’re doing.”

Giesbrecht explains that in spending time with people experiencing homelessness and drug use, a dialogue has been started where they can ask those people what would be most helpful.

“The most common thing we hear is that they don’t want to leave Red Deer,” he says. “If the City and we can given them options without a lot of hurdles to jump through, they can start on their journey.”

Giesbrecht says the Red Deer Dream Centre should be complete by the end of the year, with operations starting in early 2022. Reaching Home dollars will primarily cover costs of installing an elevator, as well as kitchen equipment and structural metal.

Reaching Home is part of a National Housing Strategy aiming to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent by 2027-2028.