CALGARY – Sky-high rental rates sparked by June flooding and a hangover of temporary summer workers have Calgary homeless shelters on overflow.
“There isn’t enough housing to start with, and then you have the impact of the flood,” says Dr. John Cook, President of the Calgary Homeless Foundation. “One of our counts showed us that there are 69 extra people in one of the shelters who said they were there because of the flood.”
October is usually a busy month at places like the Mustard Seed and the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Center, but lately, they have no room at all.
Pierre Dagenais says it’s the worst he’s seen it in his three years on the streets.
He says he is routinely being turned away from the Mustard Seed because beds are full by the time he finishes work around 6 p.m.
“I have an income of $400 or $500 a week,” says Dagenais. “But it’s just not enough to get an apartment nowadays.”
Dagenais sleeps outside in the community of Inglewood, where residents have given him a sleeping bag and a chair.
The Mustard Seed is working to place him in affordable housing.
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