Calgary Beltline program offers resources to city’s vulnerable

From a rec centre to a community hub, one Calgary building has been transformed to help serve people in the downtown area.

Refresh Tuesdays, which happens every week, at the Beltline Community Hub aims to help those who are vulnerable by providing things like showers, food, and even harm reduction supplies.

It began earlier this month and three groups are making it happen: The Alex, The City, and AAWEAR, a group working at eye level with the vulnerable community.

“Our membership and our employees and staff members all have lived or living experience of drug use, houselessness, sex work,” said Kira Dunlop, the provincial human resources manager at AAWEAR. “So we offer a different perspective. We’re able to connect with folks on a different level because we share the same experiences.”

WATCH: CityNews’ Taylor Braat reports on Refresh Tuesdays in the Beltline offering services to the city’s vulnerable

Those involved in the initiative say it’s incredibly important to make supports available outside of shelters in the city.

“Shelter staff, they’re doing the very best, but it’s difficult to stay in a shelter. There’s theft happening, there’s violence sometimes going on, and people don’t want to be there, because we all know shelters are not the answer to homelessness, affordable housing is the answer to homelessness,” said Jennifer Eyford, the associate director of mental health and addictions outreach at The Alex.

Housing referrals are offered at Refresh Tuesdays, along with recovery planning and education on how to navigate these systems.

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“We knew that we had to identify what the needs of the community were and the unhoused residents are of course a part of this neighbourhood,” Carmen Marquez, Team Lead with Community Social Work, City of Calgary. “So we knew we had to explore what needs we could meet here.”

For 67 years, people came to the building to swim at the Beltline Pool.

After consulting with the public, the city closed the facility in September, repurposing it as a community gathering place instead.