'Bunch of morons': Regina city council scraps location for permanent emergency shelter
Plans for Regina’s new permanent emergency shelter were scrapped Wednesday after seven hours of deliberation by city council.
The meeting primarily jumped back and forth between two points:
That there is an immediate need for a permanent shelter space in order to combat Regina’s ongoing houselessness crisis.
The other was that businesses and property owners do not want a shelter going up in their neighbourhood due to concerns for community safety and economic impacts.
At the end of the day, the latter won in a vote of six to five. Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Stevens voted in favour of the shelter moving into his riding, and expressed frustration over the outcome.
“I think we look collectively like a bunch of morons. Administration went, they did good work, they put before us a recommendation, we brought that from executive, we had time to think about it, and then we spent however long on it when it could have been thirty minutes,” Stevens said.
The proposed location would have been on the corner of Albert Street and Dewdney Avenue, a spot council settled on after three years of searching. The lease on the current temporary shelter space will be up in July of 2025.
“I think that the ideal situation is that you have some level of distance from residential and that you are situated in a place that has a bit of a buffer zone. It may or may not exist but to say that nothing else exists I don’t think is true,” Mayor Sandra Masters said.
Delegates on both sides of the matter spoke. Those who expressed opposition to the project all cited the need for shelter space in the city, but many took issue with the proposed location.
“I think it’s disappointing that council would consider to put a facility like this that will strain the neighbourhood inside one of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods that is already strained in Regina, I think that’s absurd” a delegate," Dustin Plett said.
The project would have required a $7.5 million investment from all three levels of government including $3 million from the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation, in addition to the allocation of $1.5 million from the city’s social development reserve.
Ward 6 Coun. Dan LeBlanc spoke with media following the decision and said council was going back on previous commitments.
“For some of my colleagues, [it is] a dramatic and cowardly retreat from past commitments we made and past commitments we ought to continue to make given that 92 people died of homelessness last year,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc followed up his statements by announcing that he plans to seek re-election come November.
Andrea Soesbergen provided a delegation in favour of the proposed location, emphasising the impossibility of finding a spot without community pushback.
“No matter where you put it, people are going to be impacted, at the end of the day, it’s got to go somewhere. It’s important and people are ready to acknowledge that it’s needed but people just don’t want it near them. At some point, we gotta just bite the bullet and do it.” Soesbergen said.
Council decided to not purchase the space and continue searching for a suitable permanent shelter space. Administration has been directed to provide a status report by Oct. 9.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Aviation experts say Russia's air defence fire likely caused Azerbaijan plane crash as nation mourns
Aviation experts said Thursday that Russian air defence fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.
Police identify victim of Christmas Day homicide in Hintonburg, charge suspect
The Ottawa Police Service says the victim who had been killed on Christmas Day in Hintonburg has been identified.
Teen actor Hudson Meek, who appeared in 'Baby Driver,' dies after falling from moving vehicle
Hudson Meek, the 16-year-old actor who appeared in 'Baby Driver,' died last week after falling from a moving vehicle in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, according to CNN affiliate WVTM.
Boxing Day in Canada: Small retailers fear big shopping day won't make up for tough year
It’s one of the busiest shopping days of the year: Boxing Day sees thousands of people head to malls and big box stores to find great deals. But it's not so simple for smaller shops.
Raised in Sask. after his family fled Hungary, this man spent decades spying on communists for the RCMP
As a Communist Party member in Calgary in the early 1940s, Frank Hadesbeck performed clerical work at the party office, printed leaflets and sold books.
Finland stops Russia-linked vessel over damaged undersea power cable in Baltic Sea
Finnish authorities detained a ship linked to neighboring Russia as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables, police said, in the latest incident involving disruption of key infrastructure.
Police in New Brunswick investigating Christmas Eve sudden death
An unconscious individual was found in the 600-block area of Lancaster Avenue early Christmas Eve morning, and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Body found in wheel well of plane at Maui airport
A person was found dead in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight to Maui on Tuesday.
Spending the holiday season alone this year? How to make the most of it
Spending the holidays alone can feel lonely or empty, but it doesn't have to be that way.