Two deaths, possibly from cold exposure, raise alarm amid Red Deer shelter situation and plight of homeless community

In the other case, a 27-year-old man, who wasn’t from Red Deer, was found deceased on Dec. 1, this time near Parkland School.

RCMP say the deaths are not suspicious, adding that the cold was very possibly a factor. They are also currently awaiting the Medical Examiner’s final report.

According to AccuWeather, Nov. 30 saw a low of -25 in Red Deer, while it got down to -14 on Dec. 1.

Kelli Steele-Stanton is executive director at Safe Harbour Society, which operates the city’s temporary emergency shelter.

She says it’s been at capacity since mid-October, and capacity overnight will soon be 150 with the organization expecting to be able to add 30 beds in the near future.

Daytime capacity is between 300 and 400.

The elephant in the room is, perhaps, the fact Red Deer counted around 800 people experiencing homelessness in 2024, therefore the shelter space Safe Harbour can offer, plus what the Mustard Seed offers, does not come close to what’s necessary.

“I’ve been working in this space for quite a number of years right across Canada, and for central Alberta, it’s absolutely not [enough],” says Steele-Stanton.

“I believe we’re moving in the right direction to close that gap significantly in the coming months, but right now, there’s not enough.”

Steele-Stanton agrees that it says a lot about the direness of the situation for people experiencing homelessness when even folks who have a home are dying from potential cold exposure.

During Red Deer city council’s recent budget debate, they approved $150,000 on a one-time basis from operating reserve to enable the city to work with community partners to immediately increase the availability of safe and adequately staffed daytime and overnight warming spaces as part of the city’s emergency winter response.

They also agreed to have the office of the mayor, as well as council, to undertake advocacy to the Government of Alberta for immediate and longterm provincial support to address emergency shelter and warming space needs.

As for the $150,000, the city is looking to have community recommendations by early next week, but are working with Safe Harbour and Mustard Seed to increase capacities in the short-term.

And as for the province, $7 million was announced for a permanent shelter by the NDP in 2019, but such a shelter is yet to see the light of day to due to countless barriers and road-bumps the city and government have both said they’ve faced.

Steele-Stanton, who’s only been in her role since July, says she’s encouraged about their relationship with the province, and is also encouraged by the direction seeming to be taken by Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies since the October election.

But she says a permanent framework, not just a physical shelter, is needed in the near future.

“I believe in the new year, there’s going to be some really good decisions on what that permanent framework is, but to be clear, this isn’t just about the city of Red Deer,” she says.

“We see people coming from Red Deer County, our teams go to encampments out there and in Lacombe County and Lacombe. Red Deer services a vulnerable homeless population that exists from Rocky Mountain House to Castor. That’s why numbers are high because people need to come into a place where there are centralized supports.”

And that, she believes, is a very key missing piece.

by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Two deaths, possibly from cold exposure, raise alarm amid Red Deer shelter situation and plight of homeless community

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