Controversy surrounding plans for a supportive housing complex in Terwillegar Towne is heating up once again.
Thursday night, an open house at the Holy Trinity Riverbend Church was the first chance residents of Terwillegar had to speak directly to the Jasper Place Health and Wellness Centre.
Jasper Place, with the help of Homeward Trust, is planning to build the 60-unit supportive housing complex on land leased to them by the Anglican Church. The Church suffered from vandalism earlier in the month after news of the development first broke.
The debate over the complex has proved deeply divisive in the community since the plans were first released.
Many of the residents that oppose the project cite a lack of community involvement and information as a key concern.
“There is no data, there is no information. It is just something that we are being told is a good idea,” said Martin Mrazik, who lives in the southwest Edmonton suburb, and is a professor of psychology at the University of Alberta.
“And I would think that before you want to do something in a community, that is using taxpayers’ dollars, that you really want to have the information you need in order to make this a successful project,” he said.
There were also a number of residents that didn’t mind having the housing complex in their neighbourhood.
“The literature I’ve read is that these are low risk individuals,” said Julie, another Terwillegar resident, who requested to have her last name withheld to protect her from backlash. “So knowing that, and trusting in that process, I’m okay with that. I don’t think that these are going to be individuals that are going to be a concern to my personal safety, or the safety of my child.”
Executives of the Jasper Place Health and Wellness Centre have noted that the housing complex is not a homeless shelter, like some have said. Applicants will be pre-screened before being allowed to live in the building. They must also pay rent – about $720 per month, which is 20 per cent lower than the market rate.
Murray Soroka, executive director of Jasper Place Health and Wellness Centre, tried to ease concerns about the location of the project. Several members of the community had already come forward claiming the site of the building was too isolated for the people it could be housing.
“There is a bus service,” he said. “I’ve been told it’s not a great bus service, but there is bus service here and people can get to the grocery stores and the leisure centre and other services in the neighbourhood.”
Soroka also admitted that he did not think that everyone’s concerns would be satisfied at the open house.
Earlier today, Global News spoke with several members of Terwillegar Towne that expressed frustration over the project, which is set to cost $12.1 million, and will be funded by the province and Homeward Trust. However, that funding plan requires community input, and those opposing the development say that requirement hasn’t been met to their satisfaction.
One of them says the project is not following the guidelines set out by Homeward Trust’s Edmonton Area Community Plan.
“It recommends community involvement, clarity and disclosure, that has not happened,” said Shauna Hostland, who is one of the residents against the project, and has lived in Terwillegar for three years.
Although an open house has been scheduled tonight to discuss the development, Hostland doesn’t feel that it is an honest attempt at debate.
“We are being told that there is a consultation this evening, but we are starting to feel like it is just a sham, like it is part of the process in pushing this forward, and that we don’t really have a say in the matter,” she said.
Hostland also argues there are too many unanswered questions surrounding the project. She says there has been no clarification as to what the building will look like, or what kind of people are going to be living in the facility.
But Hostland, and others like her, say they do not want to be characterized as people who are against helping the homeless.
“We are coming from a place where we want to help the homeless, and we want to do what is best for the homeless,” she said. “But when you look at this location, it is extremely isolated. There are no amenities close by, there are no grocery stores.”
“I think it is important that people know that we have done our research,” said Jackie Coffin, another resident who has lived in the area for about four years.
Coffin says her community is not adopting the “not in my backyard” attitude.
“If it was about N.I.M.B.Y., that would be a more emotional, fear-based response. This is an educated response,” she said. “We have done our research, we’ve come out and looked at it, and common sense shows that it just doesn’t make sense to have it here.”
“To me it would make more sense to identify locations, have communities involved from the get-go, and say ‘this is what we would like to be here,’ and make it work,’ she continued. “Bring the services out to the location … so that before the homeless people come there, it is all set up properly so that they can be successful.”
With files from Vinesh Pratap and Ross Neitz
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