SSIG report lays out list of key recommendations

By Al Beeber on September 21, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Social Services Integration Group laid out its recommendations and observations Thursday at a meeting of the Cultural and Social Standing Policy Committee of Lethbridge city council.

The commitee includes chair Mark Campbell, vice-chair deputy mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel and counclllors Jeff Carlson and Nick Paladino.

The committee unanimously passed a resolution that city council receive the report as information and that the committee refer it to administration for a more complete response to the SSIG observations and recommendations by March 2023.

Schmidt-Rempel said there were concerns with just accepting the report as information.

“I would like to see if we could get more information back on this as well just so that council has a more full understanding of what we’ve worked on,” the deputy mayor said.

The report was submitted and presented by SSIG co-chairs Monica Loewen and Josh Marti.

SSIG was formed in April of last year and given the task of identifying appropriate location criteria for social services within the city.

Its membership has diverse representation from the city including members of Indigenous groups, the faith community, Alpha House, Streets Alive, the Mustard Seed, YMCA, Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Lethbridge BRZ. It also has representation from the real estate and property management sectors, hospitality industry, Westminster and London Road neighbourhood associations and the City of Lethbridge itself.

Loewen told the SPC the work done by SSIG was challenging and showed a deep concern for and love of the community by its members.

She said members didn’t speak for any group but rather themselves as individuals.

SSIG staged over 20 meetings, according to the report “during which we achieved our original mandate of developing siting criteria guidelines as well as gathered significant information and education around the issue of priority social services.”

Marti told the meeting the first 13-15 meetings were “all over the map” with the last five being very productive.

Among SSIG’s recommendations are that council accept SSIG siting criteria and guidelines and refer those to administration to investigate recommendations, evaluate their feasibility and potential impact and to report back to council.

It also recommends the city consider doing an area redevelopment plan for the core service area – which is bordered by Highway 3, 5 Ave. North, Stafford Drive and Scenic Drive.

It also calls for the consideration of expanding the definition of supportive housing under the City’s land use bylaw.

“Presently this definition is used as a catch-all when describing a broad variety of situations with differing impacts to adjacent land uses and neighbours. Within the current delivery of social housing there are several terms that are used by operators but not necessarily by the City or province,” says the report.

“We recommend looking at further defining sub-definitions in the land use bylaw with a focus on programming and function of the land use.”

Those would include, says the report:

• Permanent Supportive Housing means a development providing accommodation to individuals who require housing with permanent supports and supervision while providing private units.

• Recovery Housing – Sober Living means a development providing accommodation to residents who are required to maintain sobriety (alcohol and/or drugs) within the public or common areas of the development but are free to use within their private accommodation.

• Recovery housing-abstinence based means a development that provides accommodation to individuals who must always maintain abstinence from alcohol or drug use.

• Transitional housing means a development providing accommodation to residents with a fixed date or timeline in which they must move to other accommodation.

• Healing lodge means a development that provides accommodation to Indigenous individuals seeking assistance in recovering from alcohol and/or drug use.

• Undisclosed housing means a development providing accommodation for persons who need to relocate from an abusive situation.

The report points out that in the realm of social service delivery a term being commonly used now is “acuity.”

That acuity includes the level of mental capacity of a person to look after their own well-being and the level of supports needed to ensure a person’s well-being is being maintained and/or improved,” said the report.

SSIG also has several recommendations it suggests be considered by the Community Wellbeing and Safety Committee when it’s established.

They include:

1. Recommend a CWSC Action Team or City group to establish a Social Environment Impact Assessment model to be built into development and zoning applications, which include working on developing a template and/or criteria of what would be included within the assessment.

This social environment impact assessment is intended to objectively assess the surrounding area of a proposed location to assess and measure impact indicators such as traffic, security, cleanliness, and wellness impact, goals of the organization, loitering and social disorder.

2. Encourage legislation for a wellness based policing model allowing a client-centred approach to remove high acuity individuals where they:

• may be in a high crisis situation,

• are unable to manage their environment and are creating social disorder,

• are posing safety risks to themselves and others,

• are causing destruction to our community.

3. Complete a follow-up resident satisfaction survey with efforts to increase participation to the one completed in 2020 where “drugs and social issues were ranked as the issues of highest concern.” Completing this survey on a periodic basis, say every two to four years will allow the city to recap and confirm the problem that the city needs to address regarding social issues and establish quantitative benchmarks to measure success.

4. Request that the province of Alberta consider developing a new general abstinent and non-abstinence based shelters in concert with the province’s existing property in the core service area.

5. Recommend that the City of Lethbridge advocate and work with the provincial and federal governments and the Blackfoot Confederacy to establish more recovery-based services outside of the City of Lethbridge (eg. Fresh Start Recovery Centre, therapeutic treatment centre in Laverne and Bringing the Spirit Home in Standoff) to assist in recovery of those wishing to be removed from temptations often found within urban centres. These services, done in collaboration, could also assist in removing pressure from services and enforcement organizations within the urban boundary.

6. Acknowledging the gap in readily available land inventories for potential service providers, SSIG recommends providing input and/or engaging with Opportunity Lethbridge’s Land Banking Strategy in relation to SSIG’s Siting Criteria and Guidelines.

7. Either through SSIG or another relevant action team, consider additional criteria exemptions that are not included in the Siting Criteria and Guidelines on an application- by-application basis; and

8. Encourage all levels of government to work in collaboration to reduce and/or avoid duplication of services to promote a comprehensive integrated system of care.

Marti said the report isn’t an “end all be all document,” adding the group is happy with the work it’s done so far.

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