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An Edmonton homeless shelter is seeing a record-high number of stays this summer, closer to the demand for help during the winter.
Homeless shelters in Edmonton are typically busiest during the colder months with fewer people staying overnight throughout the summer. But Hope Mission neared capacity several days last month with a nightly high of 848 stays. On average, about 100 more people stayed overnight every night last June than in June 2022.
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Tim Pasma, manager of homeless programs, said the demand is “unheard of” for summer. While numbers normally go up when it rains, it’s much higher than before.
“It’s unusual for this time of year by a significant margin,” he told Postmedia on Wednesday. “A typical summer night is going to be pushing 400 or 500 people, maybe pushing to 600s, but that number is exceptionally high.”
In June, there was an average of 663 people and a median of 642 overnight visits, compared to an average of 515 and median 526 stays in June 2022.
Hope Mission has 525 permanent 24/7 shelter spaces between its two buildings, plus funding from the province for another 150 until March 2024 for a total of 675 beds. It has the capacity to add more temporarily, such as by adding cots or mats, if there is greater demand.
Homeward Trust’s by name list shows 714 more people than last year are experiencing homelessness in Edmonton as of the beginning of this month. Most of the increase is among people who have temporary accommodations.
As of July 6, there were 3,180 people on the list including 643 people in shelters and 682 people who are unsheltered.
Trouble for winter
Higher numbers in the summer could signal trouble for Edmonton shelters this coming winter.
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Last month, city staff told council many shelters were reaching capacity, which is unusual during the warmer months even as complaints about homeless encampments jumped by 61 per cent from 2022. By June 6, the city had already removed 1,103 encampments this year.
Pasma said the reasons shelters are filling up are complex. On top of challenges with mental health and the drug poisoning epidemic, he said Hope Mission’s housing workers are having difficulty finding affordable and appropriate places for people to live.
Rental vacancy rates are lower, there are fewer affordable rental homes, and it has been a challenge to find landlords who will be part of the housing first program, he said.
Higher demand for shelters now makes it harder to plan for the winter — typically they would be focused more on training staff and making other preparations for the colder months, Pasma said.
“So we’re kind of thinking ‘OK, how are we going to wrap up now for the winter? And it’s a challenge. It’s never easy to see.’”
Donations needed
Hope Mission wants the public to be aware of the current situation.
They are asking the public for urgent donations of men’s and women’s clothing, socks, underwear, sunscreen, hats, bottled water and small packs of Kleenex.
“We wanted to share what we’re seeing and have the community just be aware of that,” Pasma said. “Anything, any support that we can get from the community in any capacity would be appreciated. Because it is a challenging environment right now.”
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
