Amid ongoing debate about how to address Edmonton’s homelessness crisis, the Alberta government announced Wednesday it is opening a new “navigation and support centre” to provide increased support for people living in homeless encampments across the city.
The downtown centre will be located at the Karis Centre on 103rd Avenue and 107th Street.
The City of Edmonton will provide free transportation to it and noted a local organization will be at the site to help homeless Edmontonians care for their pets.
Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis, Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon and Justice Minister Mickey Amery made the announcement in the provincial capital Wednesday morning.
They were joined by Edmonton police chief Dale McFee, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Grand Chief Cody Thomas of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations.
“Fellow Albertans urgently need our help,” Ellis said. “Edmonton is facing a cruel cycle of addiction, exploitation and crime that is preying on our most vulnerable.
“The visible hardship that we have seen, especially last week with the onset of the season’s first serious cold snap, is both heartbreaking and daunting.”
In a news release, the Alberta government said staff at the new centre will offer Indigenous cultural supports and liaisons and help people find shelter or housing and gain access to financial services or valid Alberta identification.
“The navigation centre will be open for intake Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in line with the Edmonton Police Service encampment removals. Services and staff will be available 24-7 for individuals registered and using the centre,” the news release said.
“Additionally, Radius Health, along with Alberta Health Services, will be on site to provide a variety of health and recovery-oriented services to those who need them, including the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program that provides immediate, same-day access to life-saving addiction treatment medication for people in addiction. This program is now available 24-7 for Albertans currently living in or moving into the shelter system.”
“We’ve all talked enough and now it’s time for action,” McFee said, noting he believes the new centre will offer “real, tangible solutions for community.”
“Encampments are not safe … In no way is it compassionate or responsible to allow people, vulnerable community members who are already in the throes of mental health and addictions issues, to continue to live in such circumstances.”
Ellis said he believes the encampments have “turned into gang-run drug camps” where drug dealing, human trafficking, sexual assaults and other violent acts take place.
He said his government has come to learn that criminal gangs are also “violently enforcing tent taxes” on homeless Edmontonians and charging them to use water fountains or to walk in certain areas.
Jim Gurnett with the advocacy group Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness said he was concerned that the way criminality in encampments was discussed at the news conference will confuse Edmontonians and lead to the belief “that people who are homeless are also part of some terrible criminal element.”
Gurnett added that he believes staying in a shelter is sometimes also not safe.
Provincial cabinet ministers met with Edmonton city council on Tuesday to brief them on details about the centre and its goals.
Coun. Aaron Paquette decribed the meeting as “very positive” and “really productive.”
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“Some people will look at it as this is a crackdown — and I totally get that perspective,” he said. “And that was actually my concern at first.
“But seeing all the things that are in place and all the participation with all the partners who are all feeling very positive about this, I think this may be a step in the right direction. And that is a breath of fresh air.”
Paquette added that he is heartened that “there is participation from Treaty 6 and there’s been talk that there’s going to be elders on site.”
“Building that trust — because there’s obviously trust lost in our institutions with Indigenous folks. And so this is a really good way to help people make that choice if they’re ready to move out of an encampment and into supports and maybe even into recovery.”
Paquette said he also knows from speaking with homeless Edmontonians that some people feel “stranded” in the city and want to find a way home. He said he was heartened to hear efforts may be undertaken to accommodate those people’s wishes.
“If there’s a will from the provincial government to help people connect with home and they want to go home, then they can. And that’s just really powerful.”
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said there has always been a gap when it comes to connecting vulnerable Edmontonians with services and he believes the new centre “will allow unhoused people to have access to those services, which is a very good thing to do.”
The provincial government said the centre’s effectiveness will be evaluated every 30 days and that the temporary physical space will “become a permanent model in Alberta’s response to support vulnerable people.”
The government noted that in the spring the navigation centre will turn into a 100-bed shelter for women to provide targeted services for vulnerable women.
Nixon said the new centre is one of the initiatives that has emerged from a special new cabinet committee chaired by Premier Danielle Smith, which was formed after the provincial government was approached by Edmonton police officials regarding the encampment concerns.
He added that the new centre is in no way intended to replace the current emergency shelter system but is meant to support it. It will feature 30 emergency shelter beds, however, for cases in which it is not appropriate to move someone to another site right away.
Tim Pasma, the director of programs for homelessness at Hope Mission, called Wednesday’s announcement a “positive step forward.”
“I think what we’re seeing right now is a collaboration between the city, the province and social service agencies and other groups in the city,” he said. “I think there’s a recognition that this is a big challenge for our city right now so we support it, and we’re hoping that it helps a lot of people that are in need in Edmonton streets.
“It will streamline access and provide transportation and other needs that are often barriers for people to access services.”
Pasma added that the not-for-profit Christian social care agency he works for knows of the concerns some homeless Edmontonians have about shelters, and that Hope Mission works continuously to ensure its shelters are safe and clean, while also trying to create more private spaces for people and more storage so people can bring more of their belongings with them to the shelters.
Nixon said that in addition to the investments his government has already made, the province remains “committed to long-term affordable housing solutions.”
Ellis noted that Indigenous people in the Edmonton area are disproportionately experiencing homelessness.
Thomas spoke about homeless Indigenous people in the region and the importance of getting at the root cause of homelessness. He referenced intergenerational trauma resulting from Canada’s residential school system and said he believes addictions are a root cause as well.
“We need to reflect on that historical situation,” Littlechild said, referring to the residential schools and their impacts, “to where we are today, if we’re going to know where we’re going to go tomorrow.”
“Nobody grows up wanting to be homeless,” Thomas said. “Nobody grows up wanting to be addicted to drugs. We need to get to the root cause.”
He added he agrees “encampments aren’t a safe spot” and that for some people struggling with addiction, tending to that issue is paramount.
“You need to heal them first before you get them into housing,” Thomas said, giving the example of someone who has become violent because they are in a state of psychosis due to crystal meth use. “We’ve got a lot of work to do… Planting that seed today is going to be a real act of reconciliation.
“The drugs have changed — dramatically … the system needs to evolve.”
Thomas added he was grateful to be able to work with the province on the issue.
“We actually are getting the supports that we need to heal our people, to reignite that spirit. We’re at the table to assist in finding those resolutions, and not standing outside protesting. It’s a very historical day when we can actually meet the needs of our people that are struggling, and when we talk about housing — that’s a human right for everyone.”
More encampment teardowns expected
Nixon noted the supports the centre provides are not new, but the idea is to streamline the process of finding shelter and supports for a growing number of displaced encampment residents.
After a lawsuit filed against the City of Edmonton over its encampment removal policy was tossed out by a judge on Tuesday, McFee acknowledged Wednesday that the number of encampment teardowns is expected to increase.
McFee noted it is impossible to get an accurate count of how many homeless encampments exist in the city: “They’re everywhere.”
“Our goal is to try to get all of these tents down and get people the services they need as soon as we can because it’s going to get cold again,” he said. “We will do so at the speed needed to get the job done.”
McFee said which camps are removed and how quickly that happens is subject to a number of considerations, including risk assessments.
“There are zero, and I mean zero, circumstances in which allowing these things to continue is OK,” he said. “Not when there are available shelter spaces and not when there are services that can help.
“We’ve lost the plot entirely if we continue to fixate on maintaining the status quo, letting encampments become the norm rather than improving the system as a whole. It hurts the people living in encampments, the businesses surrounding them and the communities they are located in.”
Global News spoke to a man living rough in central Edmonton and who only identified himself as “Sam” about the prospect of more encampments being dismantled.
“(I’m) completely disgusted,” he said. “That’s inhumane. It’s bad enough we’re living on the streets and them to be tearing down the tents where we’re sleeping, what do you say?
“Why don’t I tear down your house and see how (you) … feel about that?”
Sam, who said he has lived on the streets for about five years, added that he believes previous efforts by governments to end homelessness in the region have not succeeded in part because “they basically set us up to fail.”
“(To get housing), they send us to bed-bug infested apartments … unsafe parts of the city,” he said.
“I have no faith in the system whatsoever.”
Global News also spoke to a person living in a tent in central Edmonton who only identified themselves as “Matika.”
Matika said living in a tent is not easy and getting set up takes a lot of time and effort. Matika added that for some homeless Edmontonians, going to a shelter is not an option because they have been banned for one reason or another.
“Where are we all supposed to go?” Matika said, speaking about the prospect of more encampment removals.
McFee said homeless Edmontonians have frozen to death and burned to death amid freezing conditions and that “people’s lives and the safety of our community is at stake.”
“Calling encampments unsafe is not criminalizing homelessness,” he added. “To be very, very clear … homelessness and housing is not a root cause of crime.”
Speaking to reporters, Littlechild asked: “Who can be against safety at a time like this?”
NDP MLA fears new centre is just ‘Band-Aid’ solution
In a statement issued following the news conference, Opposition housing critic Janis Irwin said she fears the new centre is simply a “Band-Aid” solution.
She urged the government to support a bill she introduced in the legislature in the fall, which calls for the establishment of a temporary, emergency rental cap at two per cent for two years, “and then be tied to inflation for two more years.”
“The bill will also ensure the government sets housing targets every year, and details its progress,” the NDP MLA’s statement read in part. “It’s proven that housing people is more cost effective and yields higher success for those sleeping rough to get out of the cycle of being unhoused.
“We need permanent, supportive housing with wraparound services to get people off the streets, and the province needs to step up to ensure that people won’t be priced out of the homes they currently live in.”
Gurnett suggested he believes governments currently focus too much on shelter space and not enough on finding solutions to provide more stable and permanent housing for people.
“What we really need to do is give people the housing they deserve.”
Sohi said when he met with provincial cabinet ministers on Tuesday, the meeting was “very productive.”
“We all understand that we need to look at root causes and look at sustainable long-term solutions,” he said. “Having access to adequate housing is key … otherwise you will be continuing to deal with symptoms of houselessness.”
When Global News asked a city spokesperson if a south Edmonton encampment was dismantled on Wednesday, they said the city “is participating in a co-ordinated approach with the government of Alberta and Edmonton Police Services to address public health and safety concerns, improve the living conditions of homeless Edmontonians, and facilitate access to essential support services and alternative shelter.”
“Notice was given to individuals, and warm transportation was offered to individuals wishing to access the support and navigation centre.”
–With files from Global News’ Breanna Karstens-Smith and Kabi Moulitharan
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