Coun. Gareth Jones wants community groups to be responsible for homelessness and affordable housing strategies in the city.
“Both the administration and council cannot achieve what these people can do quickly,” said Jones during a presentation at a special council meeting on Monday night. “I believe the city should not be in the affordable housing business, except as an advisor.”
Jones said he was asked by the mayor to put together a presentation on the ‘social safety net’ in St. Albert, based on his own experiences, which include a stint on the board of the St. Albert Housing Society. It wasn’t meant to be a comprehensive report, but Jones says he wanted to shine a light on what he wants to see happen.
Jones pointed out that while St. Albert has about 18 known homeless people, there are many others who qualify as invisible homeless, such as car dwellers, couch surfers and those who feel unable to leave their current housing situation.
In a homelessness survey by the St. Albert Food Bank (now called St. Albert Community Village), 96 people said they were homeless, including 36 single parents (31 of which had three or more dependants to look after). The community village also discovered that almost two-thirds of the 96 people interviewed spent more than 80 per cent of their income on rent.
Jones praised volunteer groups like the community village and St. Albert Housing Society for creating partnerships with other groups in the area to ensure that help with housing is available should someone come seeking it. Jones wants the two organizations to act as a central hub for other community groups to offer services to those in need.
“This is not a unique recommendation. Cities like Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Calgary and Edmonton, they all do this,” he said. “[The groups] are in the ideal situation, as an institution and they already have the partnerships there.”
Jones also pointed to council’s record on affordable housing, stating that in two years, the city has funded four Habitat for Humanity homes and 37 registered basement suites. He felt that council’s record is proof that the Community Village and St. Albert Housing Society should be leading affordable housing efforts in the city.
“We haven’t spent the time on this that we should have,” Jones told his fellow councillors. “There has to be a paradigm shift from the way council and administration looks at these things now.”
Coun. Lorie Garritty said he understands the points Jones was trying to make, but he couldn’t stop himself from taking some of the criticism personally.
“There’s a difference between ‘there’s more to be done,’ and ‘council hasn’t done enough,’” he said in an interview. “I took it one way and I wanted a correction on that, and it was corrected.”
For Coun. Len Bracko, moving forward and creating and maintaining affordable housing in St. Albert is the only goal, whether it’s the city or the community groups that do it.
“I think they all need to work on it and that’s it,” he said. “As long as all the voices are heard and everyone has a role, that’s great.”
