A Hope Mission fundraising campaign has already garnered more than $6 million to rebuild the old Herb Jamieson Centre in Edmonton’s inner city.
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“The Herb Jamieson Centre needs to be rebuilt and we need to be a city that cares for people in need,” said Joel Nikkel, the director of development for Hope Mission.
“We’re a winter city so we’re always going to need an emergency shelter, a place for people to come in out of the cold.”
Last summer, the city’s subdivision and development appeal board sided with the Hope Mission — and against local businesses — by agreeing to a proposed redevelopment the Herb Jamieson Centre into a new homeless shelter for 400 individuals.
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The plan is to tear down the old building, that dates back to 1954, and replace it with a modern facility that will handle the current number of men who need shelter.
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It currently has capacity for 330 men each night, Nikkel said.
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“It’s an old building, it’s an unsafe building, it’s not wheelchair accessible. It needs to be rebuilt.
“So at Hope Mission we’ve developed a plan to rebuild the Herb Jamieson Centre and we took that plan out to the community to raise support and we’ve seen tremendous support.
“We’ve raised over $6 million to date, over 2,800 people have given a gift to the project and we’ve had a tremendous inflow of positive comments from all Edmontonians in support of rebuilding.”
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The total cost of the project is an estimated $16 million. Hope Mission has a fundraising goal of $8 million and is asking the province to match that with another $8 million.
“We need to hear from the province,” Nikkel said. “We feel like it is really important that the Herb Jamieson Centre be rebuilt.
“There’s no shelter system in Edmonton; there’s one main shelter – it’s the Herb Jamieson Centre.”
He said the group has “been in dialogue” with the Alberta government throughout the planning process.
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“We would start as soon as we heard from them. We have a development permit and we’re ready to go.”
WATCH: In Nov. 2016, Hope Mission opened 150 day beds as part of a six-month pilot project. Vinesh Pratap reports.