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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

capacity-building

Red Deer expanding warming spaces for people experiencing homelessness

Dec 19, 2025 | 5:08 PM

Red Deer is set to bolster its overall warming space.

There’s been much talk over the past week about capacity at local shelters, with the Government of Alberta sharing that they are yet to come close to being full. Shelters report usage to the government daily and can be tracked here.

Existing shelter space includes Safe Harbour’s temporary shelter, and The Mustard Seed.

During city council’s budget debate earlier this month, additional money was approved to address warming space, and it was decided this week among community members and stakeholders how to disperse it.

The breakdown is as follows, according to the city on Friday:

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Potters Hands Kitchen – Overnight Coffee Expansion
$42,350

• Provides warming space for 40–50 people
• Currently operates when temperatures reach –20°C and is consistently at capacity
• Expansion would allow operations five nights per week, regardless of weather conditions
• Creates greater consistency and predictability for those accessing services
• Quick, immediate implementation

The Mustard Seed – Expansion of Daytime Drop-In and Warming Space
$11,500

• Expands services to five days per week
• Supports approximately 50 people
• Extends operating hours to meet increased daytime needs
• Quick, immediate implementation

Warming Centre with Wraparound Supports (Collaborative Project)
$96,150 total

• $75,000 – Shining Mountains Living Community Services
• $21,150 – Turning Point
• Overnight operation from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
• Designed to support individuals with higher acuity and more complex needs
• Leverages collaboration between Shining Mountains Living Community Services and Turning Point to provide more intensive, coordinated support
• Anticipated implementation within one to two weeks, once a location is finalized

“The collaborative recommendation reflects a balanced approach, strengthening existing winter warming services to immediately increase capacity, while also supporting a new, more comprehensive option for individuals requiring higher levels of care,” said Bobby-Jo Stannard, Safe & Healthy Communities Manager.

“This approach considered the full range of needs within the community.”

The city notes that Shining Mountains, which provides health, housing and cultural supports for Indigenous people, had inquired about a downtown daytime warming space.

Unfortunately, a property they’d identified is on the edge of the city’s Gaetz-Ross Heritage Overlay, and the proposed use is not a permitted use within the existing zoning. City administration is working with Shining Mountains to identify a suitable alternative location.

The city adds:

“A Temporary Use provision in the Zoning Bylaw, introduced by the previous Council, provides added flexibility for short-term community needs. Outside of the Gaetz-Ross Heritage Overlay and Direct Control zones, downtown properties with C-1 zoning may apply for a Temporary Emergency Shelter for up to two years, subject to safety and permitting requirements. This tool significantly reduces timelines by eliminating the need for a Zoning Bylaw Amendment and was specifically designed to support situations like this.”

For Raye St Denys, CEO at Shining Mountains, the zoning issues at times make things feel like ‘mission impossible’ in terms of finding a site for a project she says would be life-saving.

“The result [here] is that people will die, and that is on the city,” says St Denys. “Indigenous people make up a large percentage of people that are unhoused; this is just another way to get rid of the Indigenous problem.”

“Access to a safe, warm space during harsh winter nights is a basic human need. The lack of municipal support for this initiative is not just a bureaucratic issue—it is a life-and-death matter. We urge the city to act with compassion and urgency.”

The Point in Time Homeless Count & Survey conducted in 2024 showed that of the 747 people counted as homeless (sheltered and unsheltered combined), 31.6 per cent were Indigenous. That’s despite just 5.3 per cent of Red Deer’s population being so, according to census data.

The report noted too that of the 747, 463 were sheltered, and 284 were unsheltered. Sheltered means in emergency or transitional facilities, or provisionally housed in the public system.

The Point In Time Count from 2022 tallied 334 people as homeless, with 99 unsheltered.

The government also references its Nov. 13, 2025 media release about supporting the most vulnerable during winter, in which they note they are capable of implementing surge capacity at local shelters around the province, as required.

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