City, province open new women-only emergency shelter in Calgary

More emergency shelter space for women opened in Calgary Monday, thanks to support from the province.

Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon said a new Mustard Seed space with 40 spaces was made possible by a $100,000 commitment from the province for renovations and set-up, and a $750,000 commitment for operations going forward.

“This is absolutely critical work, we’ve got so many people in positions of vulnerability in our city,” Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Monday “Having 40 extra spaces for women who are finding themselves in a crisis situation — this is absolutely the work we need to be doing.”

The mayor added that with the opening of the shelter and council’s recent passing of Calgary’s housing strategy, the city has a more fulsome look at the housing situation.

Nixon said the province is working to establish a similar system in Edmonton — opening 100 women-only emergency spaces and a 100-bed emergency shelter for Indigenous people.

“What that means is we should have enough emergency capacity to be able to deal with winter inside both of our largest cities which will free up some time to actually focus on long-term housing solutions in other types of ways,” the minister said.

Samantha Lowe, senior director of shelter operations with The Mustard Seed, says the need for spaces like these is becoming more necessary.

“Right here in Calgary, there’s been an astonishing 50 per cent increase in women accessing our shelter within the past year,” she said. “This surge underscores the urgent necessity for a women-only shelter, and we are immensely grateful to the ministry for embracing and seeing this vision.”

Lowe explains the new, 24/7 shelter will be located in the old Inn from the Cold building on 11 Avenue SW, and will offer services such as housing case management and counselling.

“We are committed to providing comprehensive, wrap around supports to these women,” she said. “Our goal is to empower women to rebuild their lives and transition into stable, long term housing.”

Nixon echoed the province’s desire to establish long-term solutions for housing.

“This is not our permanent housing solution, this is about dealing with emergency situations and making sure people are safe and warm and in a circumstance where we we can hopefully build to more sustainable solutions,” he said.

NDP Critic for Housing Janis Irwin said that while the additional space is welcome, it isn’t enough.

“I’m relieved the government is investing into more shelter access as we head into the coldest and most dangerous weather. This will help the most vulnerable Albertans in our society,” she said in a statement. “But it’s sadly far from adequate.”

“The rapidly growing need for more shelter spaces is a clear indication that the housing crisis in our province is dire and worsening, and the UCP are continuing to ignore their responsibility in it,” Irwin added.

The new space officially opens Monday.