About two dozen residents joined a handful of Lac La Biche County staff on Wednesday night for an update on the proposed Transitional Housing Project.
The hour-long question-and-answer session generated a lot of comments from residents, including questions on costs, location, timeframes and outcomes.
Elected council members were not at the session due to a scheduling oversight, explained a municipal spokesperson.
Anita Polturak, the manager of the Family and Community Support Services, and a member of the local Transitional Housing Task Force, faced most of the questions — providing responses where she could, but admitting there are still areas where quick answers aren't yet available.
The most important thing, she said, is that something is being done to address the growing need to offer hope and support to people who need it.
"There is a lot of interest — a lot of opportunity and excitement to make a change, and it's hope, hope for people who may have lost hope," she said.
The planned facility is expected to include space for temporary emergency shelter, as well as rooms for specialized programming as clients become more sufficient, and on-site transitional accommodations. County-owned land near the Alexander Hamilton community park has already been set aside and cleared for the project. The land has been prepared for utility services, and design plans shown at Wednesday's session show blueprints for walking trails, firepits, a localized garden, and cultural spaces on the property.
Programming options inside the facilty at this point, Polturak said, will be geared to "wrap-around" servicing, with the possibility of job training, social-well-being measures, and cultural learning — all with the goal of getting people into stable housing.
Specifics of the programming, and questions relating to people who may not want to take part in the program — but still required shelter from cold weather — will materialize as the plan unfolds. Right now, county officials and supporters of the project simply want to begin the process.
"Over time, there will be more creative solutions. At this this point in time, we want to get to this first place," Polturak said. "We want to give dignity to people who have lost dignity. We want to give these people the opportunity to believe that they can make change."
While the proposed location of the facility — adjacent to the community park, alongside a new Rotary Club disc-golf course, and near trails used by the nearby high school classes — continues to be an issue for some residents, members of the task force say they don't expect the location to adversely affect the area. Lenora Lemay with the Lac La Biche Out of the Elements Shelter society is one of the task force members. The society is expected to be working in partnership with the County to operate the transitional housing facility, moving from their current location that can accommodate just a handful of clients to the new facility that is expected to service more than a dozen.
Admitting that some of the security issues are still a "work in progress," in the ongoing planning, Lemay said the working relationship between the current shelter and local police agencies is expected to continue. She also said trained staff and video security would be in place as it is at the current shelter.
Naming
While the transitional housing project does not have a specific Indigenous connection, several people at Wednesday's meeting linked the proposed location to a temporary housing site called Moccasin Flats that was occupied by some Indigenous area residents more than 50 years ago. While the name Moccasin Flats and the Indigenous connection did have support, Polturak said the facility would be available to anyone seeking support.
"It's for anyone, not specifically for Indigenous. Anyone needing any kinds of support," she said, explaining that recent statistics compiled by the Out of the Elements Shelter indicate that a larger percentage of people using shelter services are indigenous.
Speaking in favour of that cultural link, one meeting attendee said the proposed location is where he would snare rabbits as a kid. Another person asked if the new facility would welcome people to simply bring tents to the grounds and stay there, emulating perhaps the "nomadic" nature of Indigenous culture. Polturak said those kinds of specifics would be part of ongoing discussions for the Out of the Elements Society once the program was running.
The main focus of the proposed development, she stressed, is to provide a safe space for people who need it the most.
More discussion
Although the project has been ongoing for several years, the next phase will not be implemented until May of this year when municipal officials will once again attempt to re-zone the land to accommodate the facility. In recent months, elected officials have heard from many area residents opposed to the location. Despite objections heard at a public hearing regarding the rezoning in January, municipal councillors voted to go ahead with the project in February.
Bonesville to close
Once the new facility is operating, an emergency homeless camp in the Bonesville residential subdivision will be closed. That site, funded by the municipality and operated with the assistance of the local Metis Nation of Alberta office, was created in November of 2021 and features several wooden sheds fitted with heat and power. The camp, located approximately five kilometres south of the Lac La Biche hamlet, receives municipal bus service, bringing camp residents into the community for appointments and networking. The Bonesville camp can accommodate upwards of two dozen people. The camp has operated for a year and a half with a budget of approximately $80,000.
Since 2017 when the Transitional Housing Task Force was created for the current project, approximately $455,000 of an estimated $650,000 budget has been spent on clearing land, providing utility services, administration, and securing mobile trailers.
With no municipal council members attending Wednesday's meeting another session has been scheduled for the public to speak directly with elected representatives who have approved the process. That meeting will take place on the night of March 16.
The Lac La Biche POST newsroom has an extensive archive of articles on the transitional housing project, and municipal details about the process can be found on the Lac La Biche County website.
