LAC LA BICHE - A drop in temperatures, a hike in clients, and a fear that illness could spread in the tight confines of the existing Out of the Elements Shelter has triggered Lac La Biche County councillors to open up the community's old curling rink building as an over-sized emergency shelter.
With council's approval, the operations of the Out of the Elements shelter will move from the single-room trailer on municipal land on 104 Street to the curling rink building on Main Street effective immediately. The move is temporary, lasting through the coldest of the winter months, until the end of next March.
The move to a larger location, says Lac La Biche County's manager of Family and Community Support Services Anita Polturak, comes after emergency discussions with Alberta Health Services, the municipality and the members of the society that runs the shelter. Those decisions focused on the cold weather, the size of the current shelter and the likelihood of expected virus strains spreading through the community.
"With the number of people going to that (existing) shelter, that small space, it makes it highly likely that people will be ill in there and there is no place to isolate them. It is an opportunity for a breakout for the whole place," said Polturak. "There are very real concerns for that. And if staff are having to work with people coming in when it's such crowded conditions, then the staff get ill, and the shelter is totally unavailable."
With daytime temperatures dropping below the minus 30 degree celsius mark over the last week, and with more severe cold weather expected, Polturak's request to open up the larger space was calling for immediate action.
During the brief discussions on the request, councillor Darlene Beniuk asked if the curling rink option would be in addition to the existing Out of the Elements Shelter and the temporary homeless camp in the Bonesville subdivision.
"At the end of the day, this is going to have three opportunities for them to decide where they want to go ... at any time they decide which hotel to stay at? Or how does this work?" she asked.
Beniuk was told the Out of the Elements building would not be operating as it was too small and posed a health risk to staff and clients, which was the reason for the curling rink request. The Bonesville camp will remain operating as it has been, said Polturak.
The Out of the Elements shelter does receive some municipal funding, but operates largely on provincial and federal assistance. The municipality and the Métis Nation of Alberta provide funding and resources to the Bonesville camp. Since the curling rink building was shuttered in 2012, it has served as a storage area for municipal services. In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the building was used as a temporary shelter to help many of the community's un-sheltered find appropriate space for isolation requirements.
With council's approval for the temporary move— with only Beniuk opposed — shelter staff and municipal staff will begin setting up the curling rink to take in clients immediately. The site will provide sleeping areas, washrooms and access to a kitchen area.
It was not stated how many clients the new location will serve.
Polturak and municipal administration came to Lac La Biche County councillors with two possible locations to temporarily relocate the Out of the Elements staff and clients. The other option was a piece of municipal land south of the A&W restaurant near the Northern Lights Public Schools off-campus school. The issue with that location, said Polturak, was that an existing building on the property would need about $20,000 of renovations to be re-purposed for the shelter, and work could take weeks.
Council and administrators, along with a community-lead advisory group is continuing to work on the long-term strategy for the homeless issue in the area. Plans to create a new facility, compete with accommodations and social-needs programming near the Alexander Hamilton community park have recently met with strong public opposition.
Despite the ongoing discussions on the larger social issue, Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov said the move to the curling rink is an essential, but short-term solution, to the larger problem.
"The key word here is 'temporary.' We are still working on a permanent solution," he said.
