Decision still to be made on utilizing Civic Centre as sober shelter
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 29, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
A report on the potential use of the Civic Centre as a sober shelter will be made to city council today.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
A report will be presented to city council today by chief of staff Carly Kleisinger on public feedback about a sober shelter being considered for the city.
Today’s council meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. in City Hall and will be live-streamed on the City’s YouTube channel.
Council will be asked to accept Kleisinger’s report as information.
According to her submission, administration has finished public engagement and the What We Heard report on the proposed shelter at the Civic Centre.
More than 200 people attended public open houses while 450 responded to an online survey, says the report.
“Questions in the survey were targeted to provide feedback that would assist administration in further steps of the project such as submitting a development permit application, building design, negotiations with the province and provincially-chosen operator and more,” says the report.
While initial discussions suggested that the Civic Centre might be quickly converted to shelter space, says the report, a determination has been subsequently made that it is likely the space won’t be ready for shelter use until next fall due to construction timelines and development processes.
It adds that administration is working on the “necessary steps to apply for development approval for an interim shelter…and will move forward with the co-ordination of project development including Safety Code permit applications, space design, construction, neighbour engagement and more.”
A final decision, says the report, hasn’t been made on whether the Civic Centre will be used to house a shelter.
“There are a number of key decision steps along the way that involve a number or different authorities,” including the development officer, Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, city council and the province, adds the report.
Alpha House doesn’t have enough space to house all people needing emergency accommodations, says the report, adding that “an additional location with emergency accommodations will not only increase the number of spaces in the City but will also add an additional option for those experiencing homelessness to choose from. However, it should be noted that use of a shelter is voluntary and it is unlikely that all those experiencing homelessness will choose to use emergency/temporary accommodations.”
Costs for accommodating a shelter at the Civic Centre range from $500,000 to $750,000 and it’s not yet known who would be responsible for that cost.
Responses to a survey question about what considerations the City should keep in mind when developing a lease agreement “frequently referenced the need for 24/7 security, strict waste disposal requirements, restrictions on loitering, mental and social supports as part of the shelter operations and short-term lease respondents,” says the What We Heard report.
Survey responses prompted a range of comments with some calling the Civic Centre a poor location while others called for stopping Band-Aid solutions.
Administration heard there shouldn’t be “a ridiculous amount of restrictions that would prevent people from accessing the shelter.”
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18-17
This is so frustrating! The shelter on the northside has already proven that there is no respect for residents and business owners in the area and now you want to further destroy the downtown core. This council has continued over the past 6 years to blown tens of millions on projects downtown to attract people, while continuing to allow downtown to be over-run by addicts and radicals that WANT to be homeless.
When this blows up in your faces and proves to further destroy our city your jobs will be on the line and demands will be made for you to resign!
Your wording of that survey was poor and as I learned in university years ago, you can skew results of a survey by the type of questions. The questions on that survey were badly worded!
Someone is going to have to anwser for the millions blown to attract people downtown while allowing it to be over-run!
What about the young kids using that rink? There just is no concern for the wellfare of our kids and the library is the prime example! You all got your heads where the sun don’t shine!!!
Housing is supposed to be the provincial government’s area of responsibility, but once again the city has made the tax payer support these rebels that indigenous communities have kicked off their lands for their crimes!
This council needs to be go! There needs to be a house cleaning in the city administration as well!
So you want to put a ‘sober’ shelter in the middle of an area that is saturated with hookers/pimps, drug dealers and addicts along with open drug use, not to mention a busy rink in the same complex.
That really sounds like someone has put a lot of thought into right? Since it is such a bad decision, who is pressuring them to use this since it keeps coming up? Is it the Blackfoot Confederacy, who seems to make many of this city’s decisions? Or is it another non-profit who wants to use it long term and sees the money they can make from it?
This is such a bad idea! Once again the people paying the property taxes in this city will end up on the hook! We should all get a discount on property tax in this area because we can no longer enjoy Galt Gardens and the Civic Center track area is a write off in the summer and who wants to use it in the winter when all the contaminated soil is still there along with hidden needles!
A year ago the library had a grand re-opening after spending millions on renovations and it continues to be the hangout for all the addicts and homeless with open drug use seen daily outside!
You spent over $1.71 million of tax dollars to the development of the Festive Square and think people are going to come in droves with Galt Gardens across the road? We had a festival square already in Galt Gardens, but you allowed the addicts to take over the park and instead, we get a little piece of the street for events. This all tax dollars that we pay whether it is federal, provincial or local, we pay yet some in our local government believe it is ‘free’! It just doesn’t fall from the sky! It all comes out of our pockets!
Sorry, but I will never support this!
I guess we may as well shut down the downtown core and let them take over the whole area, because that is what is happening. They keep on taking another piece of downtown.
Welcome to Lethbridge as you arrive on Red Arrow and see the Park N Ride bus depot is now used as a shelter. As you get your taxi you notice all the drug use and addicts around the outside of the Park N Ride, the Library, Bowman Center and the Engineering firm across the street.
Look at that beautiful City Hall with addicts in the doorways at night, around the Yates, LSCO and the pool . . . what a beautiful site to see when arriving in our city, some who flew into Calgary, then took the Red Arrow.
So, you may as well just give it all up to them and get it over with! After all, many say this is their land anyway!
Total lack of common sense here. The ONLY WAY a sober shelter will work is if it is placed on the reserve, not in Lethbridge. Its been tried here, it doesn’t work!
Really, folks, isn’t i time to get rid of all of these councillors and mayor, and get some new blood in there? Same goes for the admins in City Hall who have their own personal agendas here.