'Proof will be in the pudding': Alberta changing how social agencies are funded

Alberta is looking to cut out the middleman when it comes to how social agencies are funded.

On Friday, the province announced incoming changes to how services for Alberta's homeless population are funded.

Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon said the province will now provide funding directly to front-line agencies, rather than have them distributed through community-based organizations.

It will also increase data gathering on homelessness and create a new panel to inform and assess its approach to homelessness.

The change, he said, will "increase accountability and oversight of supports" and address the growing issues of homelessness in rural areas.

The current funding system was designed around seven community-based organizations in Alberta's seven largest cities.

That system, Nixon said, no longer works as homelessness has risen across the province.

"(For) the very first time in my career as an MLA we're starting to have these homeless questions (in rural areas) that we would only have ever gotten from those seven large cities," Nixon said.

"It shows that this is an expanding issue, and so we need to structure this as a full, wide provincial planning response, making sure that we're getting the appropriate services to the communities that need them."

Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson said she's glad the province wants to improve its homelessness strategy, but she has reservations about the funding change.

"Centralization comes with the risk that we lose some of that local knowledge and local context that can help us make the most effective decisions," she said.

Stevenson believes funding should remain in the hands of local agencies, like Homeward Trust, because they have unique insight into their communities.

"I just don't see how practically a single organization could be making these funding decisions across the province, that just doesn't seem realistic or efficient," she added. 

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Nixon said the change will cut "red tape" in the grant process and make sure money gets where it's needed most.

For example, he said one current challenge is that funding is sometimes given to organizations that don't "fit" within the province's mandate.

"We've seen evidence in the past of organizations distributing tents out into the community," he said. "That would be a great example of where our government is focused on shelter and housing, not on providing encampments."

Jim Gurnett, a spokesperson for the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, said it's more important that the province change how much money it's putting toward the issue.

"I think the proof will be in the pudding," he said. "The provincial government has task forces and changes their approach to this and that related to homelessness, but the bottom line is that we have a worsening situation, and none of these kinds of tinkerings are what's really needed.

"What's needed is a massively better investment in building the housing that we need."

The province said it is paying $116 million in 2024-2025 for the operation of shelter spaces, with another $101 million for local programs designed to move people into stable housing.

It said more than 8,000 Albertans were provided with housing and support in 2023-2024, including 1,800 newly admitted.

The new panel on homelessness will be announced in coming months, Nison said, and will be responsible for creating the new direct funding process.

Nixon said the funding model change would not cut funding to front-line agencies, but he did not specify if funding previously allocated to large cities would be redistributed to address the need in rural communities.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha