BONNYVILLE – The Bonnyville Friendship Centre wants to provide those without a home somewhere to lay their head at night by setting up a temporary homeless shelter.
“As an agency, we deal with the vulnerable sector and we see a need for it in our community, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping them safe,” explained Janet Goubert, community initiatives coordinator with the Bonnyville Friendship Centre.
The shelter would operate for roughly six months at 5001 48 St. in town, and Goubert noted the hope is to have it open by Aug. 1, pending government funding.
“In addition, we’re exploring grant streams to allow us to transition to a long-term shelter that would serve the vulnerable sector of our community,” she added.
The home would have a capacity of eight clients at one time. A person would be allowed to stay for three months, however, Goubert stressed someone could be allowed to stay longer under certain circumstances.
At this time, the shelter would be geared towards men.
No drugs, paraphernalia, or alcohol will be allowed in the house at any time, a screening process will happen for clients that seek shelter, and a security system will be installed to ensure no one who shouldn’t be in the home will have access.
In addition to waiting for a decision on government funding, the friendship centre's application to turn the location into a homeless shelter was also submitted to the town. Due to the time restraints of the project and the summer break, town council passed a motion during their July 14 meeting to allow the town's development office to make a final decision on the application.
Coun. Elisa Brosseau voiced her support for the homeless shelter.
“I know I’ve been talking a lot with the friendship centre and other groups in the community who feel strongly that we do need a temporary shelter for the homeless or people who are just in need,” she expressed. “I feel strongly that there’s a need for this and I feel like they’ve done their due diligence.”
Coun. Chad Colbourne agreed, “If we’ve taken a look around the community in the last few weeks, we’ve seen a few more people wandering our streets just as recently as last week there were a couple of folks sleeping on the park benches.”
Goubert stressed that homelessness is an issue in the area.
“It’s a hidden issue,” she stated. “I think a person has to look at the definition of homelessness as well, because that can include couch surfing, that could be 12 people sharing a two-bedroom house, or it could be the threat of losing their home. It’s a wide range but we definitely do have an issue here. It’s just hidden very well.”
