Council approves allocation of Reaching Home funding

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on March 27, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve an administration request to support the expenditure of federal Reaching Home funding.

The City’s contribution agreement for funding ends on March 31 but a four-year extension will begin on April 1 running through March 31, 2028.

Administration needed council’s approval to spend money that wasn’t identified in the operating budget as per Section 248 of the Municipal Government Act.

Total funding for the four fiscal years amounts to $5,587,012 from the Designated Communities and Indigenous streams of Infrastructure Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy which supports projects aimed at reducing homelessness and preventing individuals and families at imminent risk from becoming homeless.

Funding for both 2024-25 and 205-206 is $1,999,141 of which $696,488 is designated annually for the Indigenous stream. The Designated Communities stream will in both years receive $1,296,653.

In 2026-27 and 2027-28, the Designated Communities stream will get $595,813 both years while the Indigenous stream will receive $204,552.

The federal government is providing from 2024-28 a total of $1.394 billion in Reaching Home funding to communities across Canada.

The annual allocations to Lethbridge in the first two years, says a report from the City’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Darrell Mathews, is a slight decrease from 2023-24 but in the third and fourth years, there will be a 54 per cent decrease in funding.