A new location of a daytime shelter for those experiencing homelessness during the COVID pandemic - at 425 N. Railway St. - is being further delayed by an approval process, which the city's planning commission has now tabled for two weeks. The location (the green building, at the right of the photo) is the former location of the Mustard Seed and Champions Centre hot meal programs.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A new daytime shelter for homeless people is on hold after Wednesday’s meeting of the municipal planning commission in Medicine Hat.
Three dozen residents appeared in the gallery of council chambers for the meeting that concluded with a permit application for a new shelter at 435 N. Railway St., tabled until operators could present a “mitigation” plan.
Commission members say they want to avoid problems and complaints that led to neighbouring businesses successfully petitioning to close a previous location downtown.
“We’re hoping to see a plan of what (shelter operator) McMan wants to do,” said Coun. Brian Varga, chair of the planning commission. “There are concerns and they are valid concerns: What is going to be done to mitigate the risks?”
The group applying for the shelter says pausing the issue for two weeks leaves the homeless no where to go until the site is operating, they’ve complied with requirements and council should step in to solve the impasse.
“We’ll have to discuss alternative (interim) locations, but this comes as there’s new (pandemic restrictions) and fewer places to go,” said Jaime Rogers of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society.
“The weather could turn in the meantime. I think this is a council issue now. We’ve gone through the proper process and they tabled it.”
The location is the former location of the Champions Centre, a daytime shelter for men, and recently a food program location for the Mustard Seed. The new facility would be operated by McMan Youth Family and Community Services until September thanks to COVID emergency support funds from the province that are administered by MH Community Housing.
The effort had set up a daytime shelter this winter near the corner of Third Street and Sixth Avenue, but controversy arose after business owners said those accessing the shelter intimidated customers and their staff. Eventually an appeal of the development permit by the subdivision and appeal board resulted in the temporary permit for a “community centre” to expire without chance of renewal at the end of March.
That led McMan to apply for the space on North Railway, where “Government Services” is a permitted use, and typically wouldn’t require a specific approval vote by the commission.
Administrators however, say considering the high profile nature of the facility, they suggested it move to the commission for approval.
One business operator along the road said she is leery considering “what happened on Third Street.”
Kristen Spec and her husband operate two businesses and are a landlord of another along the street.
“I see both sides of this: there’s a need for it (the shelter), but it can’t be a detriment to all the businesses in the area.
McMan and Community Housing put out a statement in late March announcing the new location and told reporters they were in the process of discussing issues with neighbouring businesses.
They also stated they planned to limit access to the shelter only to those who had accessed overnight shelter or were known homeless, rather than offering other services and supports to all in the community downtown.
