Calgary city council approves $750K to help homeless population through winter

Calgary’s homeless population will be getting some more help through the winter after city council approved one-time funding Monday morning.

With $750,000, the Calgary Homeless Foundation will be able to help expand shelter-space available in the city and the area they support.

“Over the past few weeks, a number of agencies have approached the city and the Calgary Homeless Foundation with opportunities to expand their current service delivery,” Doug Borch with the city’s neighbourhoods department said.

“They provide day and/or evening services and the proposed funding will allow them to expand hours of operation, the number of people they can accommodate, the services provided on site and outreach capacity to go find people and get them through their programs.”

The funds will also go to providing winter essentials like socks, headwear, mittens and other items to help people stay warm.

City officials didn’t want to provide items that could provide heat because of the risk of smoke and fire within an encampment, on advice from the Calgary Fire Department.

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“Our recommended approach is to provide passive protection rather than active heating units that require fuel sources,” Borch said.

The Calgary Homeless Foundation said COVID-19 has contributed to the complexities facing outreach programs and shelters, but demand for their services hasn’t necessarily increased.

“The need has been quite consistent when we look at our daily intake numbers and where we are in regards to those that we are aware of experiencing homelessness, including those that do sleep rough,” Matt Namura, VP of homeless serving system of care, told council.

“I would say that the complexity of which we find our agencies having to work with has grown under the number of contributing factors to that.”

The funds will also go toward addressing barriers some Calgarians face when trying to access shelter services — barriers like care for pets, safe storage of belongings, transportation or couples staying in the same shelter.

“Addressing barriers to accessing shelters is key, both for people’s immediate safety from cold, and for the longer-term benefits that support services provide,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in a statement.

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An amendment from Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner plotted a way to provide more cold weather support for people sleeping rough, support that could come in the next four-year budget cycle.

Stakeholders including the homeless foundation, city departments, the provincial government and service providers will be consulted to create “a collaborative approach” to homelessness and cold weather response, with a report expected back by Q3 2022.

Ward 6 Coun. Richard Pootmans also said he hopes city officials can also provide further information on why, in a city that isn’t unfamiliar with winter weather.

“I would like to see a little bit of understanding provided back to council about how we ended up here,” Pootmans said. “I think there’s certainly a role to provide a catalyst or a convener role, but I’m also interested in what led to this emergency.”