The Mustard Seed community outreach centre on Allowance Avenue could become a temporary overnight shelter as a newly revealed provincial plan might create a permanent shelter at an alternate location.News Photo Collin Gallant
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A provincial plan to move Medicine Hat’s homeless shelters out of residential areas is underway, a local MLA told a city committee on Thursday, adding that the city has known about it for months but has badly mishandled a communications strategy.
Now, Cypress-Medicine Hat representative Justin Wright said a new, strong joint statement is needed to quell controversy and assure residents near the Mustard Seed location on Allowance Avenue that a temporary change to an overnight shelter is “not the permanent solution.”
The item was added to the city’s development and infrastructure meeting Monday – the last committee meeting before the Christmas break – by chair Coun. Shila Sharps.
She said members of the River Flats community are extremely frustrated with the location in general, and after casual conversations with Premier Danielle Smith and Wright during an event last week, Sharps asked for an update.
“Fishing around like no one has an answer is bit inappropriate – members of council were part of the conversation,” Wright told the committee meeting that included police, fire, community development and Medicine Hat Community Housing officials, as well as five city council members and Mayor Linnsie Clark on video conference.
Sharps agreed that new communication from city administration, rather than the planning department (handling the permit application), should go out as soon as possible.
“I don’t want this to sit over Christmas,” she said, also agreeing to move the matter to the council’s public services committee.
Wright said a communications plan was forwarded to the city – potentially to head off initial controversy about shelter expansion – but the issue stalled out at city hall.
The location has been an increasing source of tension for area residents who say it’s brought along crime and undesirable behaviour.
It was the focus of a heated public meeting at the Medicine Hat Police station this fall, and last week, a billboard advertising that the day-time outreach centre had applied to be used as a temporary overnight shelter.
That apparently was posted before a statement from the province was issued about the longer-term relocation plan, which was mentioned in the Alberta legislature on Nov. 26, and was discussed with local elected officials weeks before that, according to Wright.
“We’ve been working on this since May, had a plan to announce a (larger, homeless strategy) pilot project and called a meeting – and it all fell apart,” said Wright. “(Now), the short to medium plans have been kicked to the long term until we get this settled.
“The long-term plan is to get to one location, the Mustard Seed, at a different location that has mitigated impact for residents, but if we don’t get it right, it becomes a problem.”
Medicine Hat Community Housing is now evaluating sites for a permanent shelter, in partnership with the Mustard Seed, but temporary beds are needed this winter, and the process locating a new shelter could prove controversial.
As such, it shouldn’t be rushed, and should be properly rolled out and explained to avoid controversial reaction, said Community Housing manager Jaime Rogers.
The development permit for the temporary expansion would be heard by the municipal planning commission on Jan. 15.
In the last four years, three applications to set up either day-time, overnight or sober-living facilities in the city centre or N. Railway Street have either failed at MPC, been overturned at an appeal board, or been abandoned.
Clark attended via video conference and re-stressed her opinion that the issue is a provincial matter, and city hall should remain in the background while local service providers and the ministry of Housing and social services lead the project.
“It’s not a great rollout,” said Clark. “We (the city) can have conversations, but we’re not the responsible party.”
Coun. Alison Van Dyke, the former chair of the public services committee, told the meeting her understanding is the same as Wright’s, but that she felt it was the province’s program and their spending announcement to make.
She was happy the issue is now public.
“The community (in the Flats) needs some sort of hope – that the city and province are working on some sort of solution – because the situation there is untenable,” she said.
Coun. Andy McGrogan also said he’s “not concerned with who’s right and wrong” but said the community should be assured that work is proceeding.
On Nov. 26, Social Services Minister Jason Nixon told Wright during question period that $3 million had been set aside to help an unnamed community agency to “bring the two (Medicine Hat) shelters together into one location, and also ultimately to a new location that will work better for the community long term.”
“We’re in active conversations to increase (30 temporary beds at the Mustard Seed) as we handle this winter.”
The News inquired with social services agencies at that time but was told there was no comment on the issue.
