[Gronk!]

Edmonton homeless aid centre loses development permit after appeal hearing - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Boyle Street Community Services (BCSC) can’t move to their proposed new location after the city’s subdivision appeal board revoked their development permit.

globalnews.ca

 

[Greenspace]

Curious to read the decision when it's posted. Technically they can reapply in 1 year but also if City Council wants to they can approve the permit at a public hearing. Boyle Street may also appeal the decision to King's Court if they think there's a technicality SDAB erred on.

 

[David A]

Yeah probably much better to have the homeless wonder aimlessly through our downtown mall and LRT stations. Surely this is a sign of how messed up the regulations made by our city are.

I understand the people nearby may not want this. However, It is NIMBYism at its finest, but the fact is the people who would use and benefit from this facility are already in the area and nearby.

This new facility should help ameliorate the areas problems, not add to them.

 

[MacLac]

Well that's exactly it....the city complains incessantly about removing the homeless YET their own bylaws don't allow for homeless housing to be built??!! How can the Feds or Prov take us seriously when we look like buffoons tripping over our own feet. So if both Govt's threw a Billion $ at us - how much of that would actually be used to build shelters? Similar to the TMX pipeline I worked on for the last 3 years. On that project the Feds - the ones building the pipeline - can't even get the thing built with all of their own permitting red tape.......same story here.

 

[TAS]

I understand the people nearby may not want this. However, It is NIMBYism at its finest, but the fact is the people who would use and benefit from this facility are already in the area and nearby.

I will say I was hoping this project was going to move ahead, and it might still happen, but listening to some of the concerns of nearby residents and businesses in the area during the public hearing, they've had a tough time of it, too (moreso than your typical yeg neighbourhood, that's for sure).

I definitely would not characterize the opposition to this project by the people and businesses in this area as "NIMBYism at its finest".

I think at its finest is reserved to situations like Glenora residents fighting against a corner lot development of 4 brick townhomes that would be priced at $800k each as not meeting the character of the neighbourhood and impacting children's safety.

 

[David A]

but the people who are going to Boyle Street are already in the area, they will not be taking the bus in from Glenora.

 

[soupcrate]

but the people who are going to Boyle Street are already in the area, they will not be taking the bus in from Glenora.

I mean, there's a pretty strong case to be made that the homeless are in that area in the first place because of the massive amount of shelter capacity.

 

[kcantor]

I mean, there's a pretty strong case to be made that the homeless are in that area in the first place because of the massive amount of shelter capacity.

they’re not in the area because of shelter capacity…

the shelters are there because the homeless are already there and bscc is there to try and end it, not enable it. whether or not bscc is permitted to move 400 yards will effect nothing but continue to hamper their ability to do that.

 

[soupcrate]

they’re not in the area because of shelter capacity…

the shelters are there because the homeless are already there and bscc is there to try and end it, not enable it. whether or not bscc is permitted to move 400 yards will effect nothing but continue to hamper their ability to do that.

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I'm not at all opposed to the new BSCS facility, but there's definitely a positive feedback loop here. More shelter space in the area -> more unhoused people in the area -> more shelter space in the area. Repeat ad infinitum (and throw in some more causal cycles like: more homeless in the area -> local residents start to move out -> less opposition to new shelters -> more shelter space) and you have the current state of Boyle Street/McCauley or the DTES.

This isn't to say that we don't need more shelter space - we definitely do. But if you say all of it needs to go near Chinatown because that's where all the homeless are, you've got a self fulfilling prophecy on your hands.

 

[kcantor]

^
as noted in another thread, they are not in chinatown/macaulay/boyle street for shelter space. they are there because everything is close including pedestrians and traffic to panhandle, cheap food and liquor, transit and pedestrian connections (trails and sidewalks), petty crime opportunities, lanes, detached garages, bottle depots, recycling yards, day/casual labour opportunities (many of them prefer any employment they can get), places to warm (library to lrt stations), access to drugs, emergency services (fire and ambulance), hospitals and public health providers…

 

[Aaron_Lloyd]

While I would agree those are certainly attaractors as well for homeless, I call BS on the idea that those things only exist in northeast of Downtown. As we saw in 2020 with the camp in Light Horse Park clearly homeless are happy to exist south of the river too.

Why not use this opportunity with BSCS to move some of these services to Strathcona? Or do we just continue the cycle of dumping on already disadvantaged areas of our city because it's politically convenient?

 

[kcantor]

i don’t think i said these things only exist in northeast downtown but the concentration of those attractors is certainly greater in northeast downtown (and you could probably add the city’s main police station and the provincial law courts to that list of attractors).

 

[David A]

This is all so short sighted and silly, to be creating such difficulty for a not for profit organization that already exists in the area.

Sometimes I think we as a city or society have really lost the plot, particularly at moments like this.

Too often these days governments and some of their ridiculous and counter productive regulations are becoming part of the problem, not the solution.

 

[kcantor]

^

agreed - it is monumental government failure at all levels that has created this and continues to exacerbate it.

It seems strange to blame it on a non-profit trying to dealing with the consequences and ameliorate the situation.

 

[Clearshades]

This is all so short sighted and silly, to be creating such difficulty for a not for profit organization that already exists in the area.

Sometimes I think we as a city or society have really lost the plot, particularly at moments like this.

Too often these days governments and some of their ridiculous and counter productive regulations are becoming part of the problem, not the solution.

How is it short sighted? China town has had to deal with this population for 4 decades with no sight for any improvements while paying their full taxes. The same people that use this agency are seen in the Abbotsfield area. I invite you all for a tour from the mall to Coliseum station where every bust shelter is smashed then observe all the smash store front windows as you pass by. From 50st- 118ave, you'll find even more smashed bus shelters up to Superstore. I get some have mental setbacks, but many are substance abusers that are constantly trying to find a way to scam the system.