A provincial plan to move the homesless shelter out of the River Flats neighbourhood is underway, MLA Justin Wright said. File Photo/CHAT News

By Jayk Sterkenburg, Eli J. Ridder

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Medicine Hat’s MLA Justin Wright was appointed to help lead Alberta’s response to homelessness a day after he revealed a provincial plan already underway to move a homeless shelter out of a residential area of the city.

Wright will co-chair an expert panel charged with assessing government actions and funding while focusing on the needs of unsheltered people in rural and Indigenous communities.

While the panel is to be established early next year, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said the province will work to improve the accuracy of data collected on homelessness across Alberta.

Nixon said the province would also be changing how front-line agencies are funded, as grants are to be provided through the province directly rather than through non-profits.

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Wright during a council committee meeting Thursday accused the City of Medicine Hat of mishandling public communications over a plan he said the city’s known about for months to move shelters away from suburban neighourboods.

Coun. Shila Sharps said in a statement that blaming a lack of communication on the city “is both inappropriate and misleading.”

“The city does a lot of things that we need to work on — a lot of things — but communicating for another level of government is not one of them,” Sharps told CHAT News on Friday.

Wright said he’s been working with community peace officers for about six months to find a new spot for The Mustard Seed’s shelter location in the River Flats neighbourhood.

“They are in the midst of a search for that location and I understand that they have a shortlist right now,” he said in response to a CHAT News question during a news conference on Friday.

Justin Wright says the city has handled communicating the plan to move The Mustard Seed’s homeless shelter poorly. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

The MLA said the aim is to both meet the needs of the unsheltered people who use it and to find a solution for nearby residents who have raised concerns about some of the activity it brings to their neighbourhood.

The Alberta government requested The Mustard Seed add 20 temporary shelter spaces to its shelter on Allowance Avenue.

A news release at the time said Alberta was working with Medicine Hat to develop a long-term plan that to centralize The Mustard Seed’s services at a single location for more effective support.

Sharps said city leadership wants to support both the needs of non-profits and residents with complaints.

“Just because…we want them to feel like they’re safe in their own neighborhood, that doesn’t mean that we don’t support The Mustard Seed,” Sharps said.

“I’m finding that people are saying, if you support one, you must not support the other. And that can’t be further from the truth.”

The required permits for the shelter’s temporary expansion are coming to the Municipal Planning Commission on Jan. 15, according to Sharps.

The commission will decide whether to approve or deny The Mustard Seed’s permit request. Any decision made by the group can be appealed and it could end up in front of council at-large.

Sharps acknowledged the residents who have been raising concerns about The Mustard Seed may come to the commission meeting in opposition

“I know they don’t trust everybody and I don’t blame them, they’ve been screaming from the rooftops for years and nobody’s been listening, so I get it,” Sharps said.

“But we will not let this go. We will make sure that we all work together to find a solution long term.”