New Edmonton mayor makes first motion to bolster day shelter spaces

With winter coming sooner than later, Edmonton’s new mayor, Andrew Knack, announced his first motion as mayor will be to provide a million dollars in day shelter spaces for the city’s vulnerable.

“I heard overwhelmingly during the campaign across the city that safety is the number one issue for Edmontonians, including homelessness, mental health and addictions,” said Mayor Knack.

“Edmontonians want leadership on this issue; they don’t want us to keep saying it’s somebody else’s problem. They want action. My plan all along has been to provide solutions to support Edmonton’s unhoused and leadership necessary to respond to urgent needs in our community.”

It’s an idea some Edmontonians in downtown agree with on Monday afternoon.

“It’d be a very smart idea to build a community and make sure that people aren’t freezing to death like they have been for the past few years,” said an Edmontonian CityNews spoke to.

Another saying, “Fantastic, maybe more. Like, there’s a lot of vulnerable people on the streets who they shouldn’t have to freeze over the winter.”

Mayor Knack announced his first move in the mayor’s chair to free up a million dollars to bolster shelter space that stays open during the day.

“There are 5,000 people living unhoused in Edmonton, including more than one thousand youth. With an insufficient number of day shelters, Edmonton’s unhoused population have lost access not just to a place to keep warm, but also to services and food and a place to be safe,” said Mayor Knack. “We can not wait around for someone to take action, and that’s why I’m introducing this motion today.”

While Knack says he’s still working with local organizations on the details, including where the shelter spaces will be, Edmonton’s mayor says he’s working to get it done ahead of temperatures dropping. 

“We had talks with a few different operators. We’ve had a conversation. Our team and our office had a conversation earlier today with the chief of staff of Minister Nixon just to talk about what the needs are. But in terms of specifics, that’s still to be determined, and that’ll come, hopefully, in the next few days,” said Knack.

Those providing support to homeless Edmontonians say an increase in day shelter spaces could relieve pressure on businesses in Edmonton’s Chinatown and downtown core.  

“So it’s not as if people don’t have a space to be during the day; it’s often misunderstood that people think shelters only operate at night. They don’t. They are 24/7. But that being said, people do also want to access other services during the day, whether that’s a day space, other social services other health supports, so we’re very supportive of having more day spaces for people to go in the city,” said Tim Pasma, with Hope Mission.

Knack says he is already in talks with the provincial government. The new mayor is recognizing the work in the last two years.

A spokesperson for Alberta’s Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services told CityNews the province funds more than 2,000 day and night shelter spaces in Edmonton.

Saying, “Edmonton’s shelter capacity hovers around 75-80 per cent, meaning there are more than enough day-and-night spaces in Edmonton, and there is capacity to accommodate for increased use during the colder months.”

But Knack believes the need is there and the money comes from the Community Safety and Well-being Grant, which will not lead to an increase in property taxes for Edmontonians. 

“There’s also potentially a leverage opportunity from this funding, like we have in the past with day shelter spaces, when the city funded some of that, we tapped into federal funding, so there might be a leverage piece where you can take this one million and make it two million. Again, that’s to be determined, but we need to work very quickly, though, to make this happen,” said Knack.

-With files from Darcy Ropchan