Council addressing homeless encampment issue Tuesday

By Lethbridge Herald on July 22, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A tent camp is set up at Civic Centre field this week. Mayor Blaine Hyggen will be bringing forward a motion at city council on Tuesday that addresses homelessness and camps in Lethbridge.

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday will consider a motion by Mayor Blaine Hyggen to address the homeless encampment situation here.

The motion calls for a task force to be struck to gather key partners for a community of what the motion calls “complex issues.”

It also asks city council to allocate as much as $230,000 in one-time funding from the corporate budget contingencies to assist in administrative and policing funding shortfalls “to expedite compassionate clean-up and establishment of encampments.”

Hyggen’s motion also asks council to allocate up to $470,000 in one-time funding from corporate budget contingencies to move forward with more suitable solutions for camp concerns “that go above just encampment clean-up.”

The mayor is also calling on council to write a letter to the province’s Seniors and Housing, Community and Social Services department and Mental Health and Addictions requesting the formation of a working group to allow for city and provincial collaboration on medium and long-term housing and homeless solutions “that will ultimately address encampments issues.”

In his motion, Hyggen says encampments continue to be on the rise here and pose a safety risk to the people living in them as well as the rest of the city. It says a safe and viable community and a compassionate approach to the homeless are city priorities.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a motion by deputy mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel proposing consideration of additional discussion of a motion passed on July 5 that called for free bus passes for refugees.

Her amendment would also include as eligible for those bus passes refugee Ukrainians who have come to Lethbridge under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program this year.

A motion by acting mayor Belinda Crowson will ask administration to report to council through its Sept. 12 meeting with a report on how the city is positioned to help proponents in securing federal Rapid Housing Initiative funding for affordable and social housing projects here through land use and development processes and co-investment opportunities.