Council approves pair of rezoning requests

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 25, 2024.

Herald photo by Al Beeber - Lethbridge city council on Tuesday gave second and third readings to bylaw amendments regarding a property at 925 15 St. S. owned by Streets Alive.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday gave second and third readings to bylaw amendments regarding properties owned by Streets Alive and Wood’s Homes Society.

With the amendments getting council’s blessings, both organizations now have the green light to change the use of properties located close to the hospital.

The amendment to Bylaw 6443 which focused on a property at 925 15 St. S. will allow Streets Alive Mission to be used as a supportive housing facility for 32 residents.

The building was constructed in 1978 and had an approved development permit for use as an eight-unit apartment building. It has been used for the last four years by Streets Alive to provide housing without social supports for its residents.

“Allowing 32 residents would allow the applicant to meet their operational as well as community needs. As identified in the Municipal Housing Strategy (MHS), the community has an acute shortage of supportive housing units which this rezoning application would help to address,” says a report to council, noting that the Municipal Housing Strategy as of 2019 had determined that an additional 390 supportive housing units would be needed in this city to meet the identified need.

Streets Alive plans to renovate the building with the addition of a “16-bedroom pod” that will create a total of 32 supportive housing beds in the building.

Another hearing focused on Wood’s Homes application to use two houses at 921 and 925 19 St. S. to be used as a group home for nine youth, five who would live in one residence and four in another.

A report to council says the properties were currently zoned Specialist Office and the two buildings are single detached dwellings. After the adoption of the Specialists Office Plan in 2001, they were rezoned from Low Density to P-SO and the interiors converted into specialist offices.

Wood’s Homes has converted them back to residences.

The organization says they will serve youth aged five to 17.

The homes will be staffed 24 hours a day with a minimum of two staff per house on duty at all time. The staffing complement will include 17-full-time trained staff.

The Streets Alive application had numerous people speaking both in favour and opposition to its plans. And Kissick was grilled extensively by council on the plans with some discussion focused on their downtown operation.

Deputy mayor Jeff Carlson, when speaking in support of the amendment to Bylaw 6443, told his colleagues that supportive housing facilities are necessary in the community, adding he understands the reticence and concerns of the community noting Streets Alive “does get painted with one bad brush but this side of the business is very well supported” and has a good record both anecdotally and evidentiary by the lack of complaints from residences living around their facilities and he doesn’t share the concerns of others.

“Anytime you try to change anything, not only in Lethbridge but in the world, there is going to be pushback,” Carlson added.

“These types of developments, especially with Direct Control, give a lot of certainty to the neighbours,” added Carlson. He noted if there weren’t strict controls and guidance from the province in place, this type of property could be open to anyone including a motorcycle gang.

“This type of facility is necessary in this community. We’ve seen the benefits,” Carlson said.

“To hear the success stories only makes me more excited about approving these types of facilities,” he added.

Councillor John Middleton-Hope expressed opposition to the Streets Alive plan saying “this is not NIMBY. There are concerns that have been voiced by people in the neighbourhood. They deserve a voice, too. You’re imposing change on the neighbourhood that in many cases is unacceptable, therefore you do not have my support.”

Councillor Rajko Dodic said he always has difficulties when residential is being changed to direct control “and this is no different.”

He added the facility has had 16 residents that was operating basically as supportive housing although some services were being off-site “so now all of a sudden we’re being requested to change it to Direct Control, double it, and then bring in more facilities” including a significant increase to the footprint of the property.

“There are some real concerns that I have about doubling the density as well as bringing in-house the services that were being provided in this location already, although off site which does cause me concern,” Dodic added.

Councillor Mark Campbell supported the rezoning. telling council”the need is great in this city. We have an organization that has a track record of looking after the people in need. …there is compassion, and I know compassion doesn’t equal rezoning but in this case I think it does.”

Councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel supported it, saying there is a need for this type of supportive housing in the city. She added it provides different services than those being provided in Streets Alive’s downtown mission.

Middleton-Hope noted with the doubling of density, there will be doubling of ancillary elements such as garbage, parking and recycling.

He asked Kissick how it would be different from the downtown mission.

Kissick replied “it’s a different set of people. To be able to be part of our Exodus or Genesis program, you already have to have decided to be off the street or get away from addiction and you have to have placed yourself through a detox stabilization unit and hopefully even a treatment unit before you even get to us. What we are is a program that’s designed to take people through 120 days, we prefer six months and beyond, as we journey in that journey of recovery. The very first part of that journey is when they decide when they want to get off the street.

“The mission downtown deals with the people who at this point in time of their life are not interested in actually stopping being addicts. But they do require a certain amount of care. It’s a form of harm reduction and the difficulty that we have had at Streets Alive over the whole thing is we have those two distinct groups that we deal with but we get painted with the one brush,” Kissick added.

“Do some of these individuals relapse, absolutely? It happens but in relapse because we are abstinence-based, they are immediately removed from the facility,” Kissick said.

He said Streets Alive recognizes the downtown population is a difficult one but people aren’t brought off the street into the recovery program.

Several people who have been through Streets Alive programs heralded them for changing their lives around, getting them sober so they could lead productive lives.

But one opponent in a written submission stated “we are feeling that the city is asking a lot from us to yet again allow for more densification. . . .Perhaps it is

time that these organizations take a look in other locations or neighbourhoods and distribute the reintegration and supportive services or facilities throughout the city.”

The Wood’s Homes application was addressed by Community Planner II Genesis Molesky and Bjorn Johansen, CEO of Wood’s Homes.

Johansen told council Wood’s Homes is located across the province and has been in Lethbridge for 35 years.

The group currently has children in Lethbridge who have to go to Calgary to support so they won’t need to leave the city. But if they have to they can come back quicker and be close to both their community and family, he said.

“We are licenced by the provincial government to offer group care services” with the service at the two homes fully funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Services, he added.

In the winter, the province put out a new tender for more beds in group care across the province and Wood’s Homes was one of the successful organizations.

“It has been a strategic time for us to look at how to find the right kinds of environment for kids to live in the community,” he added.

The homes will be staffed 24 hours a day with a minimum of two staff per house on duty at all time. The staffing complement will include 20-full-time trained staff, he noted.

“It is a treatment centre,” Johansen said.

Robin James, CEO of Lethbridge Housing Authority offered support for Wood’s Homes, saying she has been a neighbour for 10 years to their shelter in the downtown care and “they’re great neighbours.”

“Not only do we need supportive housing but Wood’s Homes specifically says what they do and does what they say. Which makes a huge difference because as an affordable housing and as a social housing provider I think that it’s important for us to support each other when we stand by the same principles.”

The application prompted only question from council and no opposition from anyone in council chambers.