Edmonton organization calls levels of gov’t to support social housing

On Saturday at the legislature,the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness along with participants, were calling on the provincial and federal governments to support more social housing in the city.

“We are trying to draw attention to the catastrophe of homelessness, that’s utterly unnecessary, we’ve allowed homelessness  to grow in this city and in this country by failing to build the housing that people that can’t afford the open market need,” said Jim Gurnett, spokesperson for Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

The event also encouraging participants to cover themselves with blankets and tarps in quote.

“To show what life is like for the 4000 plus homeless people in the city,” said Gurnett.

Despite not intentionally planning to advocate on a snowy Saturday, Gurnett says it demonstrates how winter can impact the city’s homeless population.

“We can choose, I can go home from being cold out here for a couple of hours and I can warm up  but there’s more than 4000 people that won’t be able to do that today,” said Gurnett.

One participant we spoke to say, he has some friends who also experienced some stages of homelessness.

“I’ve learned with people just, what the solutions are and the answer is not to funnel more money in the capital accumulation,” said Ryan Kafara, Sociology and History Lecturer at University of Alberta.

“We know, there’s more that needs to be done,” said Jason Nixon, Alberta Seniors Community and Social Services Minister.

The Alberta government announced Friday, November 22nd, that they would be investing to boost the development of affordable housing in the province.

“I am pleased to announce that the Alberta Affordable Housing Partnership Program is opening for the next round of application, with up to 150 million available in funding to support new affordable housing projects in our province,” said Nixon.

However, Gurnett isn’t satisfied with the action of the UCP stating it isn’t really enough to address the growing demand for housing.

“The amount that they’re investing in social housing isn’t a tenth of what they need to be investing,” said Gurnett.

About 60 people attended the event with a donation drive for blankets, tarps and wagons, that were distributed once the event was over.