The City of Edmonton will look at creating a sustainable option to offer daytime shelter space for vulnerable Edmontonians, like those experiencing homelessness.
Mayor Andrew Knack put forward a motion on Monday during a community and public services committee meeting to have the city look at two options to address the issue ahead of council’s 2027-2030 budget deliberations.
The options put forward in the motion are to make the recently extended day space available permanently and year-round, or to create a community service hub that a report from city administration has said could cost $6.5 million.
The motion passed unanimously.
Knack also put forward a motion in November to increase the availability of day spaces in the city through a one-time allocation of $1 million from an existing city fund.
The funding allowed three organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness to extend hours at four existing sites between Dec. 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026: community impact centres run by the Mustard Seed at 8318 104th St. and at 15740 Stony Plain Rd.; Boyle Street Community Services at 10327 97th St.; and the iHuman Youth Society at 9635 102A Ave.
“During that time, 6,634 unique individuals visited these sites on 37,663 occasions, an increase of 51 per cent in unique individuals and 169 per cent in visits compared to the same period of the previous winter,” according to a city administration report presented to the committee on Monday.
“In addition, site staff completed a total of 1,757 referrals to services, including housing, health care, recovery, identification and income, shelter and the Navigation Centre.”
Across all four sites, the report found 54 per cent of people who visited were Indigenous, “which is reflective of the broader overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples within the homeless system of care.”
Prior to extending the organization’s hours, iHuman Youth Society operated from from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, and saw about 500 youth a week. The investment from the city allowed the organization to stay open until 9 p.m.
“While all sites reported substantial growth in attendance, the growth at iHuman was most significant, with a 321 per cent increase in visits between December and March,” the report from city administration said.
“With low youth usage rates at the other sites (nine per cent below age 18), the increase at iHuman may suggest the need for increased youth-specific services.”
iHuman executive director Beryl Bacchus said there was an immediate uptick in demand for help once the organization was able to extend its hours.
“We had the opportunity to utilize the program over four months in the winter months for our at-risk youth in Edmonton — ages 12 to 24,” she said in an interview with CBC News. “And over those four months, we supported almost 8,500 youth visits.
“Those are youth that are homeless or living in some sort of precarious housing situation, and obviously had the opportunity to find an alternative path.”
Limitations of options
Councillors Erin Rutherford and Keren Tang were among those that said there should be a greater emphasis placed on the perspectives of those who are vulnerable to better understand service needs instead of assuming what those needs may be.
Rutherford said she was disappointed that there was not a greater degree of analysis looking at the city’s research done on people with lived experience of homelessness.
“If we’re talking about getting people off the streets, … using it as harm reduction, we want it to be as barrier-free as possible, and just a space that people can be.”
Ultimately, Knack said it will take multiple levels of government to ensure needs are met.
“We need essentially a wartime effort to make progress on this, and we can do it if everyone wants to do it,” he told members of the media on Monday.
“The city wants to do it. I think the provincial government wants to do it now. Now we just need to make sure that their budget matches their words.”
CBC News requested comment on Knack’s motion from the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.
“Municipally funded day spaces are different from provincially funded emergency shelter spaces, which offer 24/7 access to shelter and supports, for use during the day as well as overnight,” a statement from the ministry said.
“We are supporting thousands of 24/7 shelter spaces across the province, where individuals can connect with mental health and addiction services, as well as housing, financial and other supports.
“This year, we are providing $119.5 million for homeless shelters – an increase of $4.8 million from last year. This will support more than 5,000 year-round shelter spaces across the province, including approximately 2,000 shelter spaces in Edmonton.”
Deliberations for the city’s 2027-2030 budget are expected to take place in December, at which time the options presented in Knack’s motion will be discussed by city council.