LAC LA BICHE - The onset of winter and cold temperatures has meant in increase in clientele at a Lac La Biche-based transitional housing facility.
Lenora Lemay of the Lakeland Out of the Elements Shelter Society (LOESS) says the early months of winter are generally when the organization sees an uptick in people looking to stay overnight to get out of the cold.
In addition to the cold weather bringing in program participants, the shelter’s outreach coordinator and executive manager have been visiting homeless encampments in the Lac La Biche area with peace officers and bylaw enforcement officers to assist those living there.
“This new initiative has resulted in increased numbers, which was the hoped for goal of working together,” she told Lakeland This Week.
Prior to relocating to its current location, the new transitional housing facility, which is comprised of five camp trailers on seven acres of fenced, municipally-owned property near Alexander Hamilton Community Park, operated as a one-room shelter in a residential neighbourhood in Lac La Biche. The facility in Alexander Hamilton Park can accommodate 29 program participants.
During periods of frigid temperatures when spaces at the new facility are at capacity, Lemay said officials with LOESS will open the old shelter overnight to ensure that no one is left outside.
One of the first questions program participants are asked upon entry to the facility, Lemay explained, is whether they have alternative housing options.
“Our diversion policy is meant to support program participants to utilize the available community services before becoming dependent on shelter living whenever possible,” she stated. “As program participants start to find appropriate accommodations in the community, we hope that we will not need to use the old shelter for overnight overflow.”
After being in the works for more than a decade and experiencing weeks of delays from an anticipated opening last November, the community’s new transitional housing facility opened its doors last January.
Now that the shelter has been in operation for close to a year, officials with LOESS are very pleased with the progress they have been able to make.
Having the new location of the transitional housing facility in an area flanked by forest has also been a great help, she added.
“With dedicated space for programming, meetings, additional washrooms and a dedicated isolation sick room, staff and community service providers are able to provide dedicated services that meet the individual needs of each program participant,” she explained. “Program participants and staff appreciate being surrounded by trees on three sides as the trees provide a sense of calm.”
Looking to the future, the Lakeland Out of the Elements Shelter Society looks forward to developing additional programming spaces on the land it leases from Lac La Biche County.
According to Lemay, over the past year, the reaction from the community to the new transitional housing facility next to Alexander Hamilton Park has been very positive, with members of the public generously lending a helping hand.
“Most of our interactions with those who visit the area are individuals bringing donations, thereby making the work we do possible,” she said.
