NDP seeking all-party committee to address homelessness
By Justin Sibbet - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on June 23, 2023.
Homelessness is on the rise in Lethbridge and the provincial government is being urged to put an end to the crisis.
According to a 2022 report by HomelessHub, over 450 people in Lethbridge are experiencing some degree of homelessness.
NDP MLA for Lethbridge-West, Shannon Phillips, has called on the UCP government to make several changes to ensure the homeless crisis is fixed.
“As I talk to more and more people here in Lethbridge, we do have an affordability crisis in the rental market,” said Phillips during a press event on Thursday.
She said the government needs to introduce more affordable housing programs, given the significant problem with the current housing market, and suggested the UCP has failed the community because Lethbridge has seen a doubling of the homeless population since 2019.
“This will only get worse as affordability becomes more and more challenging,” said Phillips, adding there has been “a lack of progress” in Lethbridge regarding the housing crisis.
“Whether it is for the acute homelessness that we see on the streets everyday, through to a lack of transitional housing, a lack of adequate shelter space, a lack of affordable housing options.”
However, Jason Nixon, UCP MLA and minister of seniors, community and social services, said progress is coming in the form of a significant financial boost.
“Alberta’s government is committed to ensuring Albertans in all communities have access to safe, secure, and stable housing,” Nixon said in a written statement to the Herald. “Over the next three years we will spend more than $1 billion on affordable housing. Budget 2023 allocated nearly $235 million over three years for rent assistance.”
Phililips, meanwhile, is calling on Nathan Neudorf, UCP MLA for Lethbridge East and minister of affordability and utilities, to support the NDP’s, to support the NDP’s call for an all-party Legislative committee.
“(The committee would) provide recommendations on housing and on rent. This is an area that affects us all.”
She said the NDP opposition is the largest official opposition in Alberta history, and they won’t settle until action is taken.
“We are serious about ensuring that this government takes real and meaningful action on the housing issue,” said Phillips.
She noted the UCP was silent about the homeless crisis during the recent election campaign that concluded at the end of last month.
But Nixon said that’s not true, and the NDP was responsible for longer wait times in the affordable housing market.
“Unlike the NDP we are getting people in Affordable Housing,” he said. “Between 2015 and 2019 when the NDP was in power the waitlist increased from 11,000 people to 19,400 people. That is a 76-per-cent jump. We are actively working to bring this down and will not take advice from the NDP on housing. Additionally, to help protect renters, legislation is in place that prohibits rent increases during a fixed-term lease, limits rent increases during a periodic tenancy to once every 365 calendar days, and sets notice requirements for rent increases.”
Phillips also took shots at Premier Danielle Smith, and said the UCP campaign during the election was half-hearted.
“We heard nothing from the UCP on housing or really a lot of other topics, given that they just hid the Premier for four weeks and called it an election campaign,” said Phillips. “We did not hear any thoughtful plan from them on how to deal with the increasing numbers of homeless people here in downtown Lethbridge.”
Phillips said the UCP had its chance, with a prime example being a large multi-unit affordable housing complex which is still not yet been completed.
“There has been a 42-unit permanent supportive housing project on the books since we funded it in 2019 … it’s not built … (There’s been all) these excuses from various levels of government, enough with that. Get the 42-unit supportive housing built and quit dilly-dallying.”
Another goal Phillips said she envisions for the proposed all-party committee is an increase in support for non-profit groups in the housing industry.
“We need tax abatements for non-profits on their housing investments … the province can backfill some of that.”
She said the committee can also find ways to better support the housing authority with business planning, reporting, accountability and more.
Wednesday was National Indigenous People’s Day and Phillips chimed in on how she believes now is as important as ever to focus on the links between homelessness and the Indigenous population in Lethbridge.
“We see the vast majority of our homeless population, here in Lethbridge, are Indigenous. We see poverty and inequality affecting Indigenous people disproportionately.”
She said appropriate attention needs to be paid to the Indigenous population and she is going to ensure that awareness is more common.
“I, for one, am not going to sit idly by. I don’t think I was elected to not work for those issues.”
Both Phillips and Nixon said their party will fight for those in need here in Lethbridge.
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The truly homeless are being housed and if you were paying attention in the last year MLA Phillips you would have seen our city working hard with the Lethbridge Housing Authority and UCP to come up with plans for more housing. We don’t need your party getting involved and getting all your non-profit friends involved who cost more, taking away valuable funds for the crisis and do little to help!
We are working on it in this city and don’t need an all party committee or board to oversee it.
It was the NDP, with it’s failed harm reduction policies and safe consumption policies that stats have shown increased the issues of addiction, death, crime and homelessness, while increasing the number of addicts. Your party was responsible for the increase of the homeless because of those policies and the Indigenous suffered great losses because of the SCS, which was a party palace that even the addicts trying to recover stated it was very bad and enabled them to continue. We now have the stats and facts to prove it! The Indigenous gangs have grown because of the drug crisis and a failed harm reduction policies taking many young lives from their communities, and having them end up on our streets, where they often die.
We have been trying to recover ever since and we are seeing progress, without your help!
If you were not so busy attacking everyone in the past year and took the time to see what our city council and adminstration were doing, backed up by the province and feds, you would have seen the progress being made.
If anyone has being paying attention to what happens when you house addicts who continue to use drugs, over 70 to 75% die where they live in BC and Alberta, so we will not solve the issues just by housing those untreated addicts. AND, many of the people on our streets and parks refuse to follow the rules of the shelters or property owners of multi-residence housing, threatening other residents, damaging property and endangering other occupants by some acts. They want to continue to commit their crimes and that will not change unless effective enforcement is used to deter them. Your party’s ideas destroyed this city and hundreds of us private citizens have worked hard the past few years to try to get our city back to it’s clean and beautiful state, we had, where people want to come to retire, not move out to other areas where they can be safe and have peace. You didn’t listen so don’t try to force yourself on us now when see a plan coming together.
Our city is on the right track, and we have many positive actions on the way that will save lives, decrease the issues on our streets and possibly even be a model for Canada in dealing with the crisis that has killed so many people needlessly.
Look no further than your mirror if you want to see why we have the issues on our streets. The SCS devastated this city, especially the downtown business community and you would not listen to our pleas, instead we waited until the UCP was voted in and began the long road to restore the damage the NDP’s SCS caused! You ignored our pleas and we went to the UCP, who were there for us! You failed us as our MLA and continue to do so!
Your policies created more people in need! We do not need your help since you were never there for us when we asked! We will never forget!
I applaud the efforts of our administration and some members of council for the hard work they have put in and actions taken on the matter!
Gee we never heard anything from Shannon Philips about a number of changes and proposals to the addicts/homelessness issue over the last couple of years. I know her office was closed for 3 months last year. Did she still get paid even though she wasn’t available for that time?
How is her law suit against the cops going? It wasn’t enough that action was taken . Now she wants the taxpayers to pay for her lawyer, the cop’s lawyer and to pay the $400,000 some price tag for “damages”. Pull up your big girl panties or get out of the game!. It isn’t all about you.
I don’t expect this post to be up long ,before the Shannon police get it pulled.
Where were you when our business was dying after the Safe Drug Consumption Site opened and the people were doing drugs all around our business front and we asked for your help and to shut down the abomination? You were not there for us and that site, as in the sites elsewhere, brought more people to this city and when all their money goes for drugs, they are homeless.
The NDP doesn’t need to be involved in this!
Yes they can by having the 42 unit build in their neighborhood.
More fake news from Phillips &Co. These people do not want help, get that through your head. Quit spending taxpayer dollars on this lost cause!
“I, for one, am not going to sit idly by. I don’t think I was elected to not work for those issues.”
Ms Phillips, you stood by idly and watched our downtown over-run with addicts who lived on the streets and in our Galt Gardens after you opened the safe consumption site. When we came to your office to ask you reconsider and shut that site down, you stood by idly. As businesses closed and others struggled due to the impacts from the safe consumption site, you stood by idly.
You are selective on what issues you want to listen to and act on, important issues and failed the downtown core so please just continue to sit by idly while we get the job done, without you.
A lot of great comments so much not left to say, other than I personally have watched people in this city working hard to come up with viable plans, working the the UCP and many of the truly unhoused have accommodations.
Housing addicts is very complex and if not done properly will only seal their death from an ovderdose. We see 70% of fatal OD’s occur where the person lives. Housing them needs to be done in a manner that has someone monitoring them.
Look at what happened in the YWCA when they allowed a safe consumption site in their lower level and soon afterward we saw several deaths, because they used and they went up to their rooms and overdosed. I will note that there was a change in the type of clients allowed to stay there at that time and after they realized it was not working out, they ended that project for the protection of their residents.
Many property owners refuse to house them because they destroy their properties. It is complex and must be dealt with proper implementation.
I do not trust the NDP, because they have too many close relationships with not for profit groups who do little to reduce the problems, taking valuable funding away from programs that work. Vancouver DTES is the best example with over $380 million spent annually on 260 social and housing groups who supply services in area of only 20,000 people in their population with little impact on the issues. The money is just as well burned in burning barrels for heating in the winter . . . What a waste . . . whatever BC does, it is better to note not to do it if you want to see an end to the crisis. Many of these not for profits just want their paycheques!
On the other hand . . . rent has gotten out of hand for the city of Lethbridge and something needs to be done! I know they are looking into several ways to reduce the impacts, but overpriced properties are one of the reasons and in an ecomomic crisis those overpriced properties will also push many to bankruptcy when their mortgages renews.
I am all for capitalism, but we need to make some changes or we will end up with no middle class who pay a large chunk of the taxes, a larger lower class and the higher class and history has proven when that happens you see civil unrest, even civil wars!
I do not want to see any all party committees and support the UCP and our city for the actions they are now taking or in the process of taking. The city has stepped up to plate and is trying to get this resolved . . . that is all we need for this city!