More funding announced to support shelters across Alberta

By KENDALL KING, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 19, 2021.

kking@medicinehatnews.com

The Government of Alberta announced Wednesday it would be providing an additional $21.5 million in funding to homeless shelters, isolation sites and emergency women’s shelters across the province, including those in Medicine Hat.

“As we continue to navigate through COVID, one of our top priorities is to make sure all Albertans have a safe place to stay and access to the support they need. Together with the $78 million previously announced by Alberta’s government, this additional funding will help organizations on the front lines deliver the services vulnerable Albertans need,” said Premier Jason Kenney in a release.

The money will be divided with $13 million going toward emergency homeless shelters, $6.5 million for isolation sites and $2 million for emergency women’s shelters.

Jaime Rogers, homeless and housing development manager at Medicine Hat Community Housing Society, found there was mild confusion over the funding announcement.

“This is anticipated funding that we knew would be invested by the government of Alberta,” Rogers told the News. “People tend to conflate those that are experiencing homelessness with the low-income community. This is very specific to those that are experiencing homelessness still in community. So it’s looking at the active sheltering and safety of those that are still in shelter or sleeping within our community from a COVID-related response; not from an overall, general community-related response.”

She reiterated the funding will “support a continuation of the provincial COVID-19 response, including isolation spaces for vulnerable persons.”

“Because we knew it was coming, we’ve worked very closely with the Government of Alberta and our community partners (and) we commend them for their continued investment,” she said.

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