Town in support of Overnight Shelter opening 24 hours a day

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore council voted to authorize the mayor to sign a letter of support for the Strathmore Overnight Shelter to remain open to clients 24 hours a day. 

Discussion surrounding the letter took place during the Sept. 18 regular meeting of council. Coun. Brent Wiley voiced a concern about the letter, regarding the Overnight Shelter potentially expanding the number of beds available to clients. 

Wiley expressed concern that by expanding the number of beds at the Overnight Shelter, the facility would be serving clients not resident to Strathmore. 

“If we continue to expand this, I am afraid that it is going to cost our citizens more than I think the 20 beds which do serve Strathmore residents,” he said.

The letter, which was ultimately authorized by council, though supportive of the expansion of the shelter, did not specify how many beds may be added to the facility.

Elizabeth Karp, executive director of the Strathmore Overnight Shelter, addressed Wiley’s concern, stating the Overnight Shelter puts a direct emphasis on screening clients to be residents of Strathmore as often as possible.

“I quite often do get calls from Calgary, Edmonton, and other areas because the shelters are full there. We are not in the business of bringing homeless populations into Strathmore … when the social workers or other people call us from other cities, we actually turn them down,” she said. “We typically do not let them into the shelter, we turn them away before they even get there – but there are situations where the RCMP picked somebody up on the street, the hospital is releasing somebody, and so we do take them in in those situations.”

Karp added the Overnight Shelter requested support in expanding their operation in order to qualify for additional grant opportunities to finance the shelter more adequately. 

“It does not necessarily mean we are going to bring a bunch more people into Strathmore,” said Karp. “As a matter of fact, in the last quarter, we have had a huge success rate of placing people in homes.”

The Strathmore Overnight Shelter also maintains a policy that clients utilizing the service have a maximum stay length of three months. 

Karp explained that period may be extended on a case-by-case basis if the client is working towards a housing goal or is similarly oriented. 

Coun. Richard Wegener motioned for council to authorize signing the letter. Support for the letter to the Overnight Shelter from council was passed in a vote of 5-1 in favour following the discussion period.