Courtesy: CHAT Newsroom.

By Angela Kazmierczak

Medicine Hat Community Housing Society reports a rise in homelessness

May 18, 2023 | 5:17 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The Medicine Hat Community Housing Society is seeing a rise in homelessness and demands for services in the community.

Jaime Rogers, the manager of homing and housing development, says for some people it’s the first time they require these supports.

“Over the last year, we’ve seen a significant increase, where people utilizing services and different types of services, those individuals that we serve right now are new to homelessness so have experienced home instability for the first time,” said Rogers.

Rogers says the increased demand in services is also leading the downtown area to experience more traffic. However, she says it’s important to be cognizant that not everyone downtown is homeless.

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“We have a lot of people that are passing through the community or that are maybe utilizing other social services that are not experiencing housing instability, that are just frequenting a bit more for programs and services,” said Rogers.

Rogers says other factors like the opioid crisis, the warm weather, and a disinterest in accessing supports are increasing traffic in the downtown area too.

Community Housing Society has recently partnered with the City of Medicine Hat for a leadership workshop to address the increase. The session is to support the downtown businesses and ensure individuals are accessing programs and services.

“We know that the downtown businesses are a little frustrated right now. We’re frustrated as well just in terms of people not accessing programs and services or maybe not having the right programs and services,” said Rogers.

The workshop will take place on June 12, 2023.