Let’s learn from recent homeless/cold crisis and work toward better solution
By Letter to the Editor on January 6, 2018.
I will start by saying thank God nobody froze to death during the -30C holiday weather. That does not mean we do not have a problem and one that doesn’t need to be addressed. I think the problem that the administration from housing has tried to deal with for a couple of years is the mayor was not honest. He took credit for something that did not happen and in doing so made things tougher for good people working the front lines in dealing with homelessness. I do not think people mean to be critical towards people working in housing or any of the other organizations caring for the homeless. They get confused when they hear of a deadly situation and do question why people were caught in -30C weather and may not have had the resources to deal with it. I do have to offer a thank you to the people at housing and the front line homelessness workers. And at the same time, I do offer a thank you to the people who are asking the questions regardless how uncomfortable they may be for some people. I would like to see and will ask Medicine Hat News to get a response from Mayor Ted Clugston on this issue. He is the creator of this confusion and it is his duty to clear up the messages going put to the community. I think it is very irresponsible for the mayor to leave it up to the agencies to curb the issue of public concern. And I am just grateful that nobody froze to death and pray this does not happen next year. Let’s all learn from this and move toward a better solution for next year. Les Landry Redcliff 9-8
