Edmonton’s mayor says the city’s homeless situation has reached a breaking point, so he is seeking to declare an emergency and hold a meeting with other levels of government.
Getting those other players to the table could prove challenging, however.
Amarjeet Sohi said in a news release Thursday he will call a special meeting of city council on Monday, Jan. 15 where he will motion to declare a housing and homelessness emergency in the city of Edmonton.
“Edmonton, we are at a breaking point,’ the mayor said in a blog post that accompanied the news release.
“I hear your calls to change how we are handling encampments, caring for our unhoused neighbours and improving the safety of communities impacted by encampments.”
Sohi said he’s heard the recent actions at encampment clearances may not be in line with the city’s commitments to upholding reconciliation, and its obligation of care in communities across the city.
“While members of the social sector, EPS and city administration suggested important changes to the high risk encampment response in their December meeting, it is clear more changes are needed,” the news release said.
Over the past two weeks, Edmonton police and city crews have worked to dismantle eight homeless camps deemed to be high risk, either because of gang activity, drug use, fire risk, how long the camp has existed or other factors.
Hundreds of needles and propane tanks have been recovered and thousands of kilograms of garbage hauled away. Several dozen people were displaced, according to numbers from City of Edmonton news releases issued after the closures.
Residents of the encampments and advocates have said they don’t have anywhere else to go because they don’t feel safe in overnight emergency shelters.
Mark Cherrington is a longtime human rights advocate, having worked to help the homeless for over three decades in Edmonton. He is also vice-president of the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights, which is suing the City of Edmonton in response to the encampment evictions.
Part of the requirements to dismantle the high-risk camps included giving occupants notice 48 hours in advance but Cherrington said that doesn’t give those people time to pack up their possessions and plan their next steps.
“That doesn’t cut it. That’s not a human way to deal with vulnerable human beings, in my opinion,” Cherrington said.
Encampments are a symptom of systemic issues, the mayor said, noting the city’s homeless population has doubled since 2019 and exceeds the capacity of the social system.
There’s approximately 3,000 homeless people in Edmonton and nearly 60 per cent are Indigenous, according to data tracked by social agency Homeward Trust.
Sohi said there’s now a bottleneck that has increased the wait to get help through the Housing First program.
“Over the past three years, we have been building from an urgent issue to an emergency.
“The system is at a breaking point. That is why I have called a special meeting of City Council on January 15th where I will motion to declare a housing and houselessness emergency in the City of Edmonton.”
Sohi said if city council approves his emergency declaration next week, his first action will be to hold an emergency meeting with other levels of government.
Specifically, he will invite provincial Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser, and Cody Thomas, the Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6.
The province responded late Thursday afternoon.
A news release said Premier Danielle Smith ordered an emergency cabinet committee be created in November 2023 and convened in response to the issue of crime and gang-related activity within encampments across the City of Edmonton.
Mayor Sohi is not part of the Edmonton Public Safety Cabinet Committee.
“It is dangerous for the mayor and others to continue to suggest that vulnerable Albertans do not have anywhere to turn,” said a statement attributed to Nixon. “This is false and will lead to more folks choosing not to seek out shelter because they fear they’ll be turned away.
“I have said before and will continue to say: there is safe space in shelters around the city and nobody will be turned away. We have more than enough room for every homeless person in the city of Edmonton to have a warm, safe place to stay. It is completely inappropriate and dangerous for the mayor, or anyone, to suggest Edmonton is out of capacity in our social services sector or our emergency shelter systems.
“Anyone needing shelter space will be kept care of.”
Outside of provincial cabinet ministers, the only other members of the committee are Edmonton Police Service chief Dale McFee and Grand Chief Thomas.
Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack responded to Nixon’s statement saying he supports the mayor’s motion and more needs to be done.
“No one has suggested that Albertans experiencing homelessness have nowhere to turn. What many people have suggested, including me, is that the standards are not good enough which is why some people aren’t choosing to use the shelters.”
“The issue is not about the number of spaces. It’s about the quality of spaces. The standards for our shelters are not good enough and the province needs to change this immediately,” Knack said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson, who represents the central Edmonton area where all the camps have been located, also expressed support for the city declaring an emergency.
“We need all partners at the table to tackle this crisis,” she said. “I’m grateful for the steps that have started to be taken at the provincial level, in terms of the provision of additional shelter space.
“There’s much more that needs to be done on a much more accelerated timeline.”
Stevenson recognized the encampments are not safe for the residents, as well as the homes and businesses that surround them, but has questions about crews moving ahead with dismantling tents this week.
“Frankly, I was surprised to see action happening with such cold, cold weather upon us,” she said. “Being out in encampments does create an even greater risk at this temperature. But I think there are other ways to help manage that at the time, in terms of bonus checks during such a cold weather snap.”
Tim Pasma with Hope Mission said more people are seeking to get off the streets this week at their two shelters in Chinatown: the women-only Hope Mission on 106 Avenue and the men-only Herb Jamieson Centre a block south.
Normally, the overnight shelters see between 700 and 850 people a night, but the past two evenings, more than 900 sought shelter as the temperature plummeted to the -30 C range.
Pasma couldn’t say if the increase was just because of the freezing cold, dismantling of camps — or both.
“We would see people from encampments coming during those times to access services. So it’s not always clear if it’s the weather or if it’s decamping the encampments. We’re not totally sure on that, but we’re definitely seeing an increase need,” Pasma said.
Despite that, there are still hundreds — possibly thousands — of people still out in the cold overnight.
Cherrington has formed relationships with many vulnerable Edmontonians and said he sees a disconnect between the perceptions of shelter staff and those who access the services.
“People have talked to me about being physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, verbally assaulted and I think it’s a situation that is leading people to find alternatives. That’s, I think, a systemic issue — why we have so many encampments.”
Some of Edmonton’s homeless have expressed resistance to going to a shelter, for a variety of reasons: fear of losing their possessions, not wanting to follow rules, encountering other people they have conflicts with and safety.
“That’s a big issue for any human being, particularly if you’re a woman or a particularly if you’re elderly, or you have mental health issues, PTSD — pick your poison,” Cherrington said.
Pasma said safety is the Hope Mission’s top priority and the shelters have storage lockers where they can store up to two 100-litre totes overnight.
“Whenever you’re dealing with a shelter, that’s serving as many people as we are, certainly there’s challenges with that, but we’re absolutely dedicated to making sure that we’re a safe, accessible and hygienic place for people to come that are in need,” Pasma said.
He acknowledged not everyone wants to access the shelters near downtown, be it because of past trauma or other concerns. Hope Mission is working on a solution to that, he said.
“We’re adding other locations in the city for shelter spaces, so that there’s smaller shelters with enhanced supports,” Pasma said.
“It’s part of an effort to decentralize some of the services, to make them more accessible for people that otherwise may not want or be able to access services right here in the downtown Chinatown core.”
Stevenson also said having shelter spaces comes down to not just a question of quantity — but quality.
“There may be a space available, but it may be in a facility where someone doesn’t feel safe or is banned from. That’s another reality, where some people aren’t able to stay in existing shelter spaces,” Stevenson said.
Cherrington agrees with the need for shelter space, but said they need to be 24/7 with more wraparound services and culturally sensitive staff trained to deal with and understand the complex mental health concerns, traumas and addictions many homeless people struggle with.
“It’s like we have a dump-and-run system. We dump a bunch of money, and then we back away and say, ‘they’ll look after it.’
“We can tell everybody in the world that, you know, we’re looking after homelessness. It doesn’t work that way. So we need government and we need our communities to stay actively involved in the decision making process within the shelters,” he said.
Municipalities are the first line of response to encampments, but Sohi said the city can’t meet the complex housing and public health crises growing in the community alone.
Sohi has been calling for additional provincial actions on this issue for years.
“Without other levels of government coming to the table to do their part and invest in affordable housing with wrap-around services, Edmonton will continue seeing encampments and residents without housing,” the news release said.
Earlier this week, the Alberta government noted 150 new Indigenous-led emergency shelter spaces are opening in northeast Edmonton.
Niginan Housing Ventures received $3 million in funding to operate up to 100 emergency shelter spaces at Pimatisiwin (the former Sands Hotel), and $2.3 million was given to Enoch Cree Nation to operate up to 100 emergency shelter spaces at Maskokamik (located in the former Coliseum Inn.)
The mayor’s blog acknowledged the province has taken steps to help address the issue.
Sohi said he was heartened by the work Nixon has done “to address the longstanding issue of equity in funding for shelter spaces between Calgary and Edmonton,” adding the ministry has worked with the city to add capacity in areas of critical need, such as Indigenous-led and women’s shelters.
“I am confident that the minister understands our issues and I am hopeful that this declaration will offer him the license he needs to get his cabinet colleagues’ support to take immediate action.”
Sohi’s statement said he hopes by bringing all levels of government to the table with urgency, and by continuing to partner with service providers, government can rebuild the system to the levels Edmontonians expect.
Grand Chief Thomas also released a statement via the Alberta government.
“I have been working and will continue to work diligently alongside the provincial government, in the spirit of reconciliation, for months on the serious action that is needed to get all people off the streets, including First Nations people,” Thomas said.
“Encampments are not a safe place and letting people overdose and freeze in the cold is not reconciliation.”
— More to come…