Shelters for homeless people will likely not be allowed near heavy industrial parts of Edmonton in the future, even as the city copes with a growing and displaced homeless population.
City councillors on the urban planning committee agreed Tuesday that the city should amend the zoning bylaw to prevent year-round and seasonal shelters from establishing in these areas.
Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack suggested the revision, in part, because of a lack of resources for clients.
“We don’t want to put things too far away — that continues to discourage people to not go to the shelter and instead be under a tree in a community where they’re not getting support.”
The revision will go in front of city council as a whole for a vote next week.
Regardless of whether shelters are in residential, commercial or mixed zones, homeless people are setting up in all parts of the city, Knack noted.
“I spent most of the summer door knocking and it didn’t matter where I was, there were encampments in pretty much every community.”
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi echoed the concerns.
“I’m seeing more and more people downtown, in Chinatown, just wandering around,” Sohi said. “People who were living in encampments — since we cleared encampments — are being displaced into the neighbourhoods.”
Homeward Trust, the agency that supports housing options and services in Edmonton, says at the end of July, 4,011 people were classified as homeless.
That includes 1,026 unsheltered, 726 staying in shelters at times, and 2,259 provisionally accommodated, which includes temporary stays at medical facilities and friends’ sofas.
Pushback on new shelter
If council passes the bylaw revision, it doesn’t change plans for a new shelter in the city’s northwest.
Hope Mission plans to open a 120-bed shelter at 124th Avenue and 149th Street this fall and that’s getting significant pushback from residents in the nearby community of Dovercourt.
Ashley Speer, speaking on behalf of a group of residents, said they believe the shelter will introduce issues that don’t currently exist there.
“We don’t have an unhomed population in this area,” Speer told CBC News this week. “There’s no way for unhomed humans to walk to the shelter, they’re going to have to get bused in. There’s no public transit to this shelter.”
Speer said residents support the social agency’s work but with schools and day homes in the neighbourhood, they’re mostly concerned about drug use.
“Young families are growing in this community and they’re scared because they don’t want to go to the park and see an overdose,” she said. ” They don’t want to have to be careful where they walk.”
Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford has had an influx of complaints from constituents but one of her main concerns is the environment for shelter clients.
“If we’re saying as a city, these areas are not appropriate in general for residential use, including temporary or long-term, why are we saying it’s OK for certain individuals? It, to me it’s very stigmatizing.”
Best practices guide
The location of shelters was a portion of the committee discussion Tuesday, where councillors reviewed the latest version of the city’s shelter standards, or best practices, which was established in 2021.
The city report says services have improved since 2022 with the Alberta government funding more than 1,800 emergency shelter spaces, up from 630, an Indigenous-led shelter and women-only shelter, all open 24-7.
Sohi said he’s pleased the standards have improved but despite the efforts, people continue to struggle on the streets.
“Some are unable or unwilling to go to shelters — their past experience, trauma, various reasons or restrictions, or they’re excluded because of past behaviour.”
Housing is the answer
Knack said what’s really missing is affordable and permanent supportive housing.
“Let’s not nitpick about where shelters should go, let’s just actually get to the solution of building homes so we don’t have to worry about where shelters should go. That’s our focus.”
The city estimates 1,400-1,700 units are needed.
Knack said he’s waiting for a co-ordinated plan from the Alberta government, which has the “legal authority and frankly at the moment, significant financial capacity to sort this out,” pointing out a $4.3 billion provincial surplus.
“Let’s use that, let’s end homelessness,” Knack said.
In his state of the city address last week, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi announced a new 16-member task force on homelessness. City council declared the issue an emergency earlier this year.