Pallet homes, trailers being set up as agencies expand emergency shelter space

With no date yet set to begin the teardown of eight homeless encampments in central Edmonton, social agencies are working to open new emergency shelter spaces in different areas of the city.

On Monday, an Edmonton judge made an interim injunction order that allows police to proceed with removing tents and makeshift structures at a number of sites if they meet a number of conditions that were negotiated by lawyers for the City of Edmonton, Edmonton Police Service, and the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights — a group that advocates on behalf of people living in tents in the city. 

The injunction order followed public outcry and pushback from a number of social organizations about the EPS plan to remove between 118 and 135 structures at eight sites that police had deemed to be high risk, citing concern about criminal activity and risk of tent fires.

After Monday's hearing, EPS deputy Warren Driechel said he expected the removals would still go ahead, but that the process would be slowed down. 

On Wednesday, an exact start date was still unknown.

"EPS is working with provincial and municipal partners to determine next steps following the injunction hearing. Removals are not being scheduled yet," EPS spokesperson Cheryl Voordenhout said in an email Wednesday.

City spokesperson Karen Zypchyn said it's expected that those closures will go ahead in the coming weeks. 

One of the conditions ordered by the judge is to serve the occupants of the camps with notice of removal at least 48 hours prior to it happening. The notice must also specify the reason why the structure is being removed. 

Coalition co-counsel Avnish Nanda said Wednesday that so far they weren't aware of any encampment residents receiving a notice. 

However, Nanda said he expects notices could start being issued within the next few days, particularly at encampments where EPS believe there is imminent risk to public health and safety.

In an interview Thursday, Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee said the encampments are unsafe.

"It's not OK to be in that environment, it's not safe," said McFee. "And when you swear an oath as an officer and our people do, down there, the first thing is to protect people and prevent crime. The fire chief has said the same thing: it's not safe."

McFee said the issue needs urgent action and no solution is perfect. 

Pallet homes, trailers to serve as emergency shelters

Multiple social agencies that work with Edmonton's homeless population met Wednesday to chat about the way forward.

Niginan Housing Ventures CEO Keri Cardinal attended the meeting, and said her organization has just received a development permit to go ahead with a plan to open outdoor emergency shelter spaces. 

Niginan already operates an indoor emergency shelter for Indigenous people called Pimatsiwin. It's currently housing 34 people at the former Sands Inn & Suites at 12340 Fort Rd., but work is underway to expand both their indoor spaces and outdoor spaces – which will open in an oil field camp structure with four pallet homes.

The pallet homes are a prototype that an American company wanted to test in Canadian winters, and so they're being offered for free. Cardinal said once the plan to use the pallet houses was underway, they decided to expand the outdoor offerings and have leased a 49-man oil camp accommodation set-up up from an oil company. 

When everything is open, Pimatsiwin will have more than 100 emergency winter shelter spaces — 60 indoors and 53 outdoors.

There's no date yet for when they'll be able to open the 53 outdoor spaces — which will be shut down in April.

However, with the expansion of the indoor emergency shelter spaces, Pimatsiwin will continue to offer 60 emergency shelter spaces in the spring and beyond.  

She said people have been arriving at Pimatsiwin from the street, often from encampments.

"People that have been deemed hard to house, the hardest the house, haven't been housed anywhere else. That's who we take, that's what we do and we provide them with a number of supports. We meet them with love and kindness," Cardinal said.

Niginan also operates several permanent, supportive housing spaces, and Cardinal says the goal is always to move people from the emergency shelter spaces into some kind of permanent housing.

Another emergency shelter being set up in trailers near Belvedere LRT station will provide 24/7 accommodation and support for up to 100 women who are homeless, Zypchyn said Wednesday.

The space will be operated by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northern Alberta. Neither Elizabeth Fry, the city or the province provided an opening date for that shelter.

Shelter capacity remains unclear

The trailers are part of the province's pledge to set up 1,700 permanent and temporary shelter spaces in Edmonton by Nov. 1 — a goal that it has still not reached. 

It remains unclear how much shelter capacity there is in Edmonton. Homeward Trust, which tracks data on both shelter's and the number of people living on Edmonton's streets, reported that as of Dec. 17, there were 1,142 shelter spaces, with 973 of those spots being used.

But Heather Barlow, the press secretary for the Minister of Community and Social Services, said Wednesday that there are over 1,400 shelter spaces available in Edmonton. 

A similar discrepancy between Homeward Trust and the province was reported last week. 

Specific agencies have also told CBC that they don't have as many spaces available as appear on Homeward Trust's website. 

For example, Cardinal says Pimatsiwin currently only has 34 shelter spaces that are all being used. Meanwhile, Homeward Trust's website says Pimatsiwin has 50 beds available and that it still has vacancy.

Barlow said that the province's reported available shelter spaces may be different than what Homeward Trust is reporting because some shelters' totals reflect the number of spaces they are licensed to open, while others report how many beds are actually open and operating. 

Homeward Trust's data shows that while most of the shelter spaces across Edmonton are under capacity, a few of the spaces operated by Hope Mission are close to or over capacity.

Barlow said there is still shelter capacity in the city, and that the province will take action if space runs out.  

While the negotiated agreement between the police, city and coalition, as well as the incoming emergency shelter spaces, are encouraging – the persistence of encampments and homelessness, and the shortfall of promised, properly-serviced shelters spaces is frustrating for Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack. 

Knack said the city and the federal government have both expressed a will to step up, and that the province is the missing piece of the puzzle.  

"For a fraction of this year's provincial surplus, you could end homelessness across Alberta. So it's not a funding issue. It's truly a 'do we have the political will, provincially, to take action?" Knack said Wednesday.