Leduc, Alta., city council votes to support creation of emergency cold-weather homeless shelter
CBC
After some contentious debate, city council in Leduc, Alta., passed a motion this week to support the creation of an overnight emergency shelter for use during periods of extreme cold weather.
An estimated 100 people are currently experiencing homelessness in Leduc. The only homeless shelter in the city 35 kilometres south of Edmonton closed in May.
Coun. Ryan Pollard put forward a motion at a council meeting Monday, calling for city administration to initiate planning and facility requirements to provide overnight emergency shelter services that would operate during severe weather between Nov. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025.
The services would include modular accommodation units located behind the Protective Services building, which houses the Leduc RCMP detachment and a fire hall.
Pollard's motion passed in a 4-3 vote.
Administration will now start to look for a contract service provider to operate the program at a cost of up to $308,000. The money is to come from the city's operating reserve fund.
Mayor Bob Young, who voted against the motion, said instead of opening a new emergency shelter, Leduc should instead direct people experiencing homelessness to the province's new navigation centre in Edmonton.
"I'm not voting against this because I want to see somebody freezing in the streets," Young told council. "I want to see people get the help and the support that they need."
But he said very few municipalities are opening shelters because of the costs involved.
"A homeless shelter, all it does is it enables people to stay homeless, it doesn't help them," he said.
Coun. Glen Finstad also voted against Pollard's motion after saying that he hoped common sense would prevail.
"We need to stay in our lane. The province has the resources set up to handle it," Finstad said.
Creating a new shelter may make people feel like they are doing a good thing, but wouldn't "solve the problem" of homelessness, he said.
"We're not experts at it. We don't have the resources, we don't have the manpower."
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