UCP to review funding promised to Lethbridge by NDP for supportive housing

Millions of dollars in provincial funding for supportive housing in Lethbridge has been put on hold by Alberta’s United Conservative government.

The $11.2 million promised by the former Alberta NDP government in December 2018, was to go towards building a rehabilitative housing complex to support homeless people struggling with substance abuse and drug addiction. Now, the project is being put on pause as the new provincial government reviews the project.

The organization, ARCHES, that runs the city’s supervised consumption site and provides services for those struggling with addiction, however, isn’t worried about what the review will find.

“I think they’re going to find that it’s a great plan,” said Megan Williamson, director of programs at ARCHES.

“The only issue I see with that is that we need it yesterday. This project they had already identified is probably going to take two years to put into place, and so any delays in that just puts us further back.”

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The implementation of supportive housing, Williamson explained, would help close the loop on addiction services in the city by offering a safe place to continue recovery efforts — something that she said right now is in short supply.

“Part of our services here at supervised consumption is to connect and build rapport,” she said.

“Then when they’re ready, move them along the spectrum of care, but one of the largest barriers we have to do that is that they have nowhere to go.”

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On Thursday, a closed-door meeting was held at Lethbridge city hall with members of the provincial government to discuss what steps can be taken next to tackle this issue, which is a problem that mayor Chris Spearman said only the provincial government can assist with.

“Anything that’s health-related, anything that’s housing-related is a provincial issue,” said Spearman.

“So we can continue to fund the police force, we can continue to make sure our city is clean and safe in the downtown, but we need to have something that looks like a solution to the drug crisis.”

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During the meeting, Spearman suggested the UCP could use Lethbridge as the starting point of a new initiative to help tackle the drug crisis across Alberta.

“We think that Lethbridge would be an ideal community to have its own strategy,” he said. “One that could be replicated across the province. But basically, you have to start in a community and recognize what are the assets and what are the deficiencies and what things are missing.”

But Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, Jason Luan, didn’t offer any specifics when pressed on provincial funding or plans for Lethbridge moving forward.

“Money alone can’t solve this issue,” he said. “It has to be the will and the power of the community and community stakeholders and community powers that come to the table… with creative solutions that meet the local need.”

There is no timeline at this point of when the UCP review will take place.