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David A said:
This has been going on for years and years. Why the heck aren't there shelter spaces open throughout the day?

Edmonton's downtown should not continue to be the dumping ground for the social problems the Government of Alberta can not take responsibility for or properly manage.
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I know I've harped on this before, but the Drop-In centers we used to have operated as day shelters. We would keep people warm and safe, run events, provide food, and connect people with resources. However, governments have moved away from funding drop in spaces because they are not "Solution Oriented" enough. Mustard Seed, Jasper Place, Operation Friendship, Boyle, Lighthouse, and Bissell have all closed/refocused their drop ins in the last few years and don't provide that safe space anymore. Homeless folks need safe places to exist, and if we don't provide those places they will take their only other option: public spaces and encampments.
 
^I'm curious if that's the province or the operators refusing to be open during the day. The province says they provide funding for 24/7 shelter space. Operators are non-committal. We are getting mixed messages and no one wants to find a solution.
 
Greenspace said:
^I'm curious if that's the province or the operators refusing to be open during the day. The province says they provide funding for 24/7 shelter space. Operators are non-committal. We are getting mixed messages and no one wants to find a solution.
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Good questions. If the funding is conditional on operating 24/7, then those conditions should be met, shouldn't they? Someone here is being disingenuous here - the province in misrepresenting its funding, or the operators.
 
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Greenspace said:
^I'm curious if that's the province or the operators refusing to be open during the day. The province says they provide funding for 24/7 shelter space. Operators are non-committal. We are getting mixed messages and no one wants to find a solution.
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These are different services provided in different spaces. Shelter space is different from drop in space. In short, shelters are a place to stay and sleep but not really a space to "Hang Out" during the day.

Most shelter's are a large room or series of rooms with beds/mattresses as a place to sleep and be out of the cold. Shelters will also have some smaller rooms for people to meet with workers to access services. But there is nowhere/limited space to hang out during the day. To access a shelter you usually have to register upon entry because they have a limited number of beds. Some will let you register, leave during the day and as long as you are back by a certain time you can keep your bed. Others are first come first serve and as soon as you leave your bed is given to the next person.

A drop in is a large room/series of rooms with tables and chairs. Food and Coffee will be served at different times. In the past you didn't have to register to enter and the drop in's just kept count of the number of people in there. The Drop-In will have workers/volunteers providing services like system navigation, clothes, food, housing supports, etc. but there was no requirement to be doing anything with those services to be in the space.

Some shelters will have both separately: Herb Jamison being the best example and has separate spaces in their new building for both space. Most other shelters will close the shelter during the day and convert the space into a drop in but in order to do that they must close for several hours to transition and either kick people out still sleeping or kick people out who are awake to let those other people sleep.

The move to 24/7 shelters is because many homeless folks are completed detached from the clock the way you and I are. Until just a few years ago we had no 24/7 shelter so folks who needed sleep at different times than the scheduled intake/kick out where SOL and sleeping/dying on the street. The province is funding some shelters for 24/7 services, and that is a good thing. The operators ARE operating them but they are a place to sleep and stay warm not a place to "hang out" like a drop in.
 
Now, I know this would be a major overhaul to all our LRT stations but safety and comfort would be vastly improved if this was done. Considering the environment we live in why could we not have platform screens and doors. With those in place it would protect passengers from the tracks but also more importantly it could highly minimize the cold air during all our wi ter months.
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
Now, I know this would be a major overhaul to all our LRT stations but safety and comfort would be vastly improved if this was done. Considering the environment we live in why could we not have platform screens and doors. With those in place it would protect passengers from the tracks but also more importantly it could highly minimize the cold air during all our wi ter months.
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I think the City has a lot more pressing needs to spend money on. Besides, with the layout of most stations to minimize the cold you'd need to build a lot more than just platform screen doors! Most stations in fact are quite open to the elements. Even a station like Belvedere or Clareview, although they are fully covered, have such high roofs if your goal it minimize the cold, you have a lot more to build than just platfrom screen doors. The easiest stations for platform screen doors would the underground stations, but then they aren't that cold in the winter either.

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Edmcowboy11 said:
Now, I know this would be a major overhaul to all our LRT stations but safety and comfort would be vastly improved if this was done. Considering the environment we live in why could we not have platform screens and doors. With those in place it would protect passengers from the tracks but also more importantly it could highly minimize the cold air during all our wi ter months.
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When it comes to transit, we seem to forget we are a winter city and then we wonder why more people don't take it. Standing outside exposed to the cold waiting for a bus or train that is late, is no ones idea of fun.
 
Due to a complaint I had a couple of weeks ago, CoE and a tie to EPS and I are going for a walk around Bay LRT next week.
 
IanO said:
Due to a complaint I had a couple of weeks ago, CoE and a tie to EPS and I are going for a walk around Bay LRT next week.
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I don’t know what time of day you are going but you should take them to the Corona LRT station especially the entrance by First Edmonton Place. It can be quite the thing in the evenings with all the disorder there.
 
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