LAC LA BICHE - The new transitional housing facility near the Alexander Hamilton community park in Lac La Biche is set to open its doors soon, says the chairperson of the society operating the site.
"The new facility is not yet open. We are getting much closer,” says Lenora LeMay with the Lakeland Out of the Elements Society.
The facility, which includes several specially repurposed utility trailers, featuring a large room for multiple sleeping mats, rooms for individual accommodation, kitchen and programming rooms, was initially set to be open to clients at the end of November. At that time, municipal officials who are partnering with the project said some internet connectivity issues were causing the delay.
Lemay didn't offer the Lac La Biche POST newsroom a specific reason for the ongoing delay.
Once the site is open to receive clients, residents will participate in a four-stage program designed to help them break the cycle of homelessness and find stable housing.
For the last 11 years, the Out of the Elements Society has been running a single-room shelter on 104 Street near Lac La Biche's Light of Christ Catholic School. That location, which remains operational until the new site opens, can accommodate 12 clients overnight. The same number of spaces will be available at the new site LeMay says, explaining that clients will first spend time in the 'mat room' before moving into their own space.
“Clients won't be going into 'housing units' or, in this case, into their own space in the transitional housing part of the trailers till they have demonstrated they can access and maintain some of the services they need to support themselves in meaningful and relevant ways,” she explained.
Finding staff
With regards to staffing, LeMay confirmed that the society is currently recruiting staff with the intention of expanding programming and services to meet its new mandate of providing transitional housing support.
Closing Bonesville
Once the transitional housing facility is operating, a temporary emergency compound in the Bonesville subdivision located about five kilometres south of the Lac La Biche hamlet, will close after two years of keeping more than a dozen people sheltered in heated wooden sheds. The site, complete with a communal kitchen area, outdoor fire-pits, outhouses and electricity was a joint project between the Métis Nation of Alberta and Lac La Biche County.
