New homeless shelter to open in Edmonton industrial area

Hope Mission is opening a new homeless shelter this fall, and it's not downtown.

A former electrical wholesale business near Yellowhead Trail and 149 Street is being turned into a new 120 bed emergency shelter for the homeless.

Shelters were not allowed in areas like this, until Edmonton's city-wide zoning overhaul took effect this year, a curious change for area councillor Erin Rutherford.

"If it's not appropriate for other residential uses, why would this be appropriate for shelters or housing?" she questioned in an interview with CTV News Edmonton on Monday.

"That's why in June, Rutherford voted against rezoning the property to give Hope Mission a bigger footprint for its shelter, space the social agency says it needs in order to provide wrap-around services on site, like medical help, housing resources and other social supports.

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While she sees the need for this shelter Rutherford questions the location.

"You have all of these big high volume transporters of goods in and around this area, and really nothing in the way of even transit, or park space."

Multiple people reached out to CTV News Edmonton with their concerns, worried about the shelter's proximity to schools and businesses like Costco, just across the street.

Hope Mission says it is taking steps to minimize the shelter's impact.

It says the crisis diversion team will visit often, it's providing transportation to and from the site and people and their belongings won't be prominent outside because of ample storage and round the clock operation.

The shelter is scheduled to open in October.

Meanwhile, councillors will discuss the city's policy on homeless shelters in industrial areas on Tuesday.