Mustard Seed says initiative has to come from community before any possible return to city
By Tim Kalinowski on May 13, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
Nearly two months after having its sober shelter quashed by city council, the Mustard Seed says it has no immediate plans to return to Lethbridge unless conditions on the ground change.
“Once burnt, twice shy,” says Mustard Seed CEO Stephen Wile. “To be really honest, we have stayed in contact with city hall, with some potential partners in Lethbridge, as well as community church leaders just to keep the lines of communication open more than anything else. We certainly haven’t been proposing anything, and, to be honest, we are at a stage where the initiative will have to come from the community not from us in the future.”
When asked what he thinks led to city council’s rejection of his organization’s service within the community, Wile says there were various factors at play- including impending municipal elections.
“Let’s face it; city council is a political entity, and there is always the pressure to get re-elected, if you want to get re-elected, and sometimes those who are experiencing homelessness and poverty don’t always get the commitment that other groups like business groups might get; especially during an election year,” he states.
Wile also acknowledged the “angst” in the community leftover from previous social initiatives.
“I think in some ways the well has been poisoned because of past initiatives,” he admits, “and people coming in and trying to create solutions are just painted with brush of past, failed, social action.”
The need in the community for a sober (dry) shelter is clear and becoming more pressing each day, says Wile.
“The need has only grown,” Wile states, “and it is amazing to me the community of Lethbridge has not recognized how significant the need is in their city. Some of the things that were complained about at city council, we would actually have helped solve some of those issues. You realize Lethbridge is the only city of this size in the province that does not have a dry shelter as well as a wet shelter? And it is needed.
“We do want to be in Lethbridge,” he adds. “We do want to support the most vulnerable in the city. We believe it is a need. It’s not just our calling, it’s our passion to meet people in need and provide solutions for them. We see a lot of need in Lethbridge, and it’s not going to go away, and it is not going to get better, until we have organizations like ours and others that can be in there and help provide solutions.”
Wile does not know when the Mustard Seed may be able to come to Lethbridge at this point, he admits. He says part of the frustration for his organization is it spent over $100,000 of donor money to try to set up this essential service in the community, but kept being told by City staff, whenever it proposed a location, it would not work. It came to the point, Wile says, where his staff threw up their hands and asked City administration to suggest a spot. Administration came back to them with the 100 block of 13th Street South location which was ultimately rejected by city council- which leads the Mustard Seed to its current determination to wait and see what develops in Lethbridge.
“We will not step back into Lethbridge until the City and city council has identified a piece of property for us to purchase or to lease to start a dry shelter,” Wile says simply.
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We do need the Mustard Seed in our city and I am not sure why they published this . . . who-ever believes we need this is out of touch and has not idea what is really happening on our streets!
Years ago we had Streets Alive on First avenue south where Remax now stands before moving the shelter to the northside, believing it would resolve all the issues in the downtown core of Lethbridge, where alcoholics were hanging out around businesses, urinating, passing out, and even committing sexual acts around businesses and Galt Gardens . . . there were only about 25 individuals committing these 25-30 years ago before they moved the site to the northside and made it ‘bigger and better’ increasing the size to accommodate around 100 and soon after there were regular numbers seen of 75 to 100 users of the shelter! . . . Build it and they will come! The more services you provide the more people you will attract!
We are already seeing more people, new faces on our streets as the weather warms up!
The Vancouver DTES (downtown eastside) is the best example of how this just doesn’t work! The greater DTES is about 20,000 people and every year they pump over $360 million into around 300 social and housing services! The more services they bring in, the more people they attract! It isn’t working and 17 years of trying has provent it!
I have researched the Vancouver DTES, and over 40% of the people are not from BC and travelled there from across Canada.The warm winters and all the services they provide are well known and attract users!
We have all the services we need in this city, but they just have to collaborate better, unite to bring the services needed.
Have you ever been camping . . . I mean camping, in a tent without all the electronics, propane heaters and stoves or beds with mattresses? You adapt and enjoy it and when it is time to go, you don’t want to!
People on the streets adapt, especially when you have the soup kitchen providing meals, the food banks, the organizations that hand out lunches to the homeless and other organizations that provide clothing . . . the addictions fog the minds of the addicts so they even adapt to the streets easier.
Years ago, it seemed like many addicts had to hit rock bottom when they found themselves with nothing, they realized they needed help . . . but we have given them so many supports that they rarely hit rock bottom!
I live downtown . . . I work downtown and I see the mess we have created everyday by making bad decisions in dealing with this!
Too many young people have died on our streets and we have seen a dramatic reduction of fatal overdosed since the SCS was shut down.
We do have a choice of what we want to happen on our streets and we do have a say what we want in our community!
There is an election this year and everyone should carefully decide who they are putting into office to represent the people of this city. We have paid millions of dollars already to combat the issue on our streets . . . how deep are your pockets? When are you going to say enough is enough!
We DO NOT need the Mustard Seed in this city . . . we have enough services here . . . when are we going to realize this and take back our city, our streets and our parks! What happens on our streets every day is a just unacceptable and we do not have to allow it!
We have the power as citizens to demand change! That is what a democracy is!
We have enough services here . . . we need better decisions to deal with the issues on the streets and collaboration of the existing services!