Edmonton needs a shelter for homeless families, outreach worker says

An outreach worker who supports Edmontonians experiencing homelessness says some of the provincial government's new funding for shelters this winter should go toward establishing one for homeless families.

Judith Gale, who founded the Edmonton/Beaver Hills House Bear Clan Patrol chapter, said family homelessness is a disheartening reality that has become more common.

"Landlords are not being very patient with our brothers and sisters, and we've seen whole families — three generations in one tent — in tents because they don't want to be separated," she said.

Gale said she raised the city's lack of family shelters with Premier Jason Kenney at the funding announcement outside the Hope Mission's Herb Jamieson Centre last week. 

She said the premier thanked her for putting the issue on his radar.

Gale is calling for an apartment-style shelter where families could stay temporarily and access a range of services.

Calgary has two family shelters — and both field calls from Edmonton families seeking emergency housing.

Brenda's House, a family shelter in southwest Calgary run by the Children's Cottage Society, receives occasional calls from Edmonton, a communications coordinator confirmed. 

Heather Morley, executive director of Inn from the Cold, says families travel from Edmonton — and even from neighbouring provinces — to visit its family shelter in downtown Calgary.

She said demand for shelter and services has spiked during the pandemic.

Inn from the Cold tries to prevent families from becoming homeless and keep children out of shelters, but Morley said family shelters play an important role in helping some Albertans secure a stable environment for their children.

"About 15 per cent of the families we see are single dads," she said. "A women's shelter isn't going to be an appropriate place for a single dad to go with his children."

She said the lack of family shelters is a national problem.

Family homelessness can be difficult to understand and measure because it often involves "hidden homelessness," she said. People experiencing hidden homelessness are not reflected in municipal statistics because instead of showing up at a shelter, they find temporary places to stay, like a friend's house.