Carmichael Outreach will eventually be moving into its new home in the 1500-block of 12th Avenue.
Regina city council unanimously voted to rezone the vacant property on Monday night.
It’s only two blocks away from Carmichael’s current location at 1925 Osler Street.
One of the biggest benefits of the new facility is that there will be room for a commercial kitchen and proper eating area for the 60,000 meals that Carmichael provides for its clients, executive director Cora Gajari said.
“People won’t have to take their and go eat them somewhere else,” Gajari said.
“They can stay in the building and eat their meals.”
READ MORE: Heritage neighbourhood residents raise concern about Carmichael’s plan to move
The bigger building will also provide proper office space for staff.
Housing support worker Dan Lindsay is looking forward to having the extra space.
Several delegates spoke to city council in favour of the rezoning, but a few nearby residents aren’t on board with the idea.
They raised concern about the homeless service centre moving into a residential neighbourhood. It’s primarily surrounded by parking lots on Osler Street.
“I have real doubts about a needle exchange and lunch program moving into a residential area, flanking a block with tenuous stability. We’ve seen regular consumption of alcohol and drug use outside of Carmichael,” Alyssa Becker-Burns told council.
Becker-Burns and Irene Terashima are both supportive of the work Carmichael does, but are worried about the move’s potential impact on property values.
Carmicahel spoke with residents during the application process, and Terashima hopes that those talks will continue.
Gajari said there will be extra security measures at the new location to address those concerns.
“We’ll have cameras, lighting, a higher fence than what we initially planned. We’re going to create space so that people have a place and have somewhere to go and stand outside instead of loitering around the building,” she explained.
Carmichael’s new location will need plenty of renovation work before the organization can move in.
The earliest it will be open will be late this summer.
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