Calgary council votes unanimously for $750K boost in homeless supports

The City of Calgary has voted unanimously to boost funding for winter supports at community agencies and shelters.

The Calgary Homeless Foundation will receive $750,000 which will be used to expand staffing and hours of services, along with buying essential items such as winter clothes.

The City administration has also been tasked with identifying and removing barriers within the current system.

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Matt Nomura with the Calgary Homeless Foundation says organizations in the city are ready to take action.

“People with our shelter providers that have expertise working with the complexities that individuals present with, they are ready, willing, and able to move into a space of setting up these basic needs quickly and appropriately,” said Nomura.

Chaz Smith with Be the change YYC says this is sorely needed as it gets colder, but also it’s something that has been needed for a while.

“The pandemic has really changed the scope of homelessness. We know that drop-in services have been extremely limited throughout the pandemic. We’ve had almost no drop-in services throughout the pandemic, where people could simply come in, shower, eat food, do laundry,” Smith said.

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City officials have said they do need a stronger homelessness strategy and advocacy organizations have been doing a lot of the leg-work up to now.

Advocates say there’s little time to waste, though, and this is all purely a survival response from vulnerable people in the city.

“We have a struggling population that throughout the pandemic has been in the fight or flight mode looking for food, water, clothing, heat as it has gotten cold,” said Smith.

Smith said they regularly visit people living in encampments like these, and they also have social workers, mental health professionals, and people trained in first aid along with them.

This past spring, a count of the vulnerable population showed almost 2,000 people were sleeping outside.

– With files from Tom Ross and Kayla Butler