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home / 世界杯决赛2022

edmonton will run extreme weather buses for winter, private homelessness debate provokes ire of councillors

the city is bracing for another winter with plans to pr...

by lauren boothby

oct 20 2022
read time 4 minute read
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a homeless camp in the inner-city on july 4, 2022, in edmonton. greg southam / postmedia
the city is bracing for another winter with plans to provide two extreme weather buses to bring people to shelters as more than 2,650 homeless edmontonians remain unhoused and unprotected from the cold.
council approved city staff’s homelessness winter strategy on wednesday, which includes one bus — run by edmonton transit services charter buses and transit peace officers — that will bring people from central locations to shelters. boyle street community services will run a second daytime route focusing on helping people experiencing homelessness outside the city’s core to a place to keep warm and provide crucial survival supplies like blankets and winter clothing.
but before accepting city staff’s plan, a lengthy private discussion on homelessness provoked the ire of some councillors who bemoaned the dysfunctional process — coun. sarah hamilton said there is a “toxic governance culture.”
a private motion tabled by coun. anne stevenson — with no public details — was ultimately defeated 5-8.
“i do worry that our needs will be even greater than we’re currently expecting, that will impact not only those that find themselves unsheltered, but for all edmontonians, those using transit, those running businesses, and those living in their homes and seeing the housing crisis play out on our streets,” stevenson said publicly before the final vote.
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“i have an eye not only to this coming winter, but to summer next year. we know that encampments continue to be a growing issue in our communities, and i don’t know that we have a plan in place at this moment to get ahead of this for next summer.”
the city’s homeless plan includes an additional 450 temporary winter shelter spaces and keeping shelters open 24-7 with money provided recently by the province.
there will be 1,072 shelter spaces in total — 1,578 fewer than the number of unhoused people identified by homeward trust as of oct. 12.

‘toxic governance culture’

wednesday’s in-camera debate related to homelessness proved to be frustrating for councillors who criticized both the way council meetings are run and the content of the first motion that was defeated, details of which haven’t been made public.

shortly after the public meeting resumed,  hamilton, the ward sipiwiyiniwak councillor, said the fact they can’t talk openly about that motion is “indicative of, frankly, of really poor governance,” and that they are “wrapping ourselves in governance pretzels” by trying to talk about it.

“to be honest, i found this entire conversation to be very problematic, and that’s just from a governance perspective,” hamilton said.
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“i can’t even get into the frankly absurd fiscal mismanagement we have been talking about in the context of this secret motion, and it’s become indicative, frankly, of the toxic governance culture that has developed here at this table, over the last 365 days.”
hamilton was concerned by the content of the secret motion as well, saying it would endanger relationships with the community and other agencies, and that council needs to stop ignoring the city staff’s advice.
“i’m exhausted from having to explain why these kinds of discussions are contrary to many of the principles that this table purports to uphold,” she said.
“i can’t entertain this any longer. i won’t be supporting anything having to do with this … this is just profoundly abusive, frankly, of the residents of the city of edmonton and making this kind of decision without their consent or knowledge is not right.”
mayor amarjeet sohi responded by saying that he seeks advice from the city clerk and the legal department. “i think it’s a little bit inappropriate to say this is bad governance … because i seek legal advice before i proceed.”
ward pihêsiwin coun. tim cartmell told council he agrees with everything hamilton said. other councillors were opposed because of the financial impact. councillors stevenson, michael janz, andrew knack, ashley salvador and jo-anne wright were the only ones in favour.

shelter space remains the same

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meanwhile, the mayor told reporters during a break that the added emergency shelter spaces with money from the province are a good start and he will continue to ask for more investment in edmonton.
asked if capacity is enough this winter, sohi said it will be the same as last year.
“our administration told us there is a gap, but we will monitor that gap. we will work with the province to identify that gap and continue to engage with them on it. we have a very productive relationship with (the province),” he told reporters wednesday.
the request for permanent shelter spaces open 24-7 wasn’t approved but he will work with the province to make that happen, the mayor said.
cartmell acknowledged there is a shortfall, but said increasing spaces is difficult.
“there is also a practical limitation to what the social services ecosystem can provide … we would like to see more spaces, but our capacity is limited, and the system’s capacity is limited,” he said. “it’s going to require all levels of government working collaboratively over time to create a solution set for this province.”

the city’s response to encampments this summer, noted in a report reviewed by a council committee last week , found its response increased collaboration and prevented sites from becoming “high risk and large-scale” but also displaced many people.

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“the displacement from the large sites led to more small-scale encampments and higher clean-up costs. encampment response teams are not adequately resourced to address the volume of encampments or the complexity of health and security challenges faced by encampment residents,” the staff report states.
a council committee ultimately gave a stamp of approval to plan to work on “prototypes” for addressing homeless camps.

no specifics were mentioned at the time, however, city staff previously spoke of plans to look into a tiny home village, trailers, or renting hotels to provide shelter in the future.

lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby

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