Jasper Place Wellness Centre ends housing project after city funding runs out
CBC
A transitional-bridge housing project in Edmonton has ended after $7.5 million in temporary funding from the City of Edmonton ran out last week.
Advocates say the closure leaves a gap in services for people experiencing homelessness in Edmonton, now estimated to be about 3,000 people, according to Homeward Trust's website.
The Jasper Place Wellness Centre (JPWC) closed 59 beds and 10 low-mobility spaces at 156th Street and Stony Plain Road on Aug. 3, after six months in operation.
During that time, 148 chronically homeless people stayed at the facility, and 87 ended up in permanent housing, said Murray Soroka, CEO of the centre.
"I would find that wildly successful," Soroka told CBC News in an interview this week.
The program included mental health and addiction support, helping clients get identification and income support, looking for apartments and finding furniture, Soroka said.
Clients stayed for an average of 52 days from the time of enrolment to getting housed, he said.
The bridge housing was alongside 150 emergency shelter spaces in the same building at the Bedfort Hotel which closed in late May and was leased from the Tallcree Tribal Government.
"It was a program that was well thought out by the city," Soroka said.
"To have them realize that a shelter is one thing, but to be able to actually give someone an opportunity to move from a shelter bed to a transition bed to permanent housing, was a better outcome."
The City of Edmonton paid for the package deal after the city council approved the funding as part of last December's operating budget session.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi recently asked the province to continue supporting the program or initiatives like it.
"Unfortunately, the site is set to close on August 3, 2023, unless immediate funding is provided, and I ask that you lend your support to this or other transitional/bridge housing projects in Edmonton," Sohi wrote in a letter to Premier Danielle Smith on Aug. 2.
In an email statement to CBC News, Sohi said Edmonton has advocated for continued provincial funding of this site, but no further funding has been committed.
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