File Photo/CHAT News

By Jesse Gill

HOMELESSNESS

Demand increasing at Medicine Hat’s homeless shelter as temperatures cool

Dec 11, 2025 | 1:00 AM

With cooler temperatures becoming more common in Medicine Hat through December, there is an increased demand for those who are facing homelessness to seek shelter.

The Mustard Seed‘s senior director of community engagement, David Conrad, said the Medicine Hat shelter operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with 34 beds.

“When it is extremely cold, we do have an overflow space available, so we can take a few more than that as needed. But there’s always a need and not just in Medicine Hat, but across the country, there’s a need for more shelter beds,” Conrad said.

“There are people who typically are sleeping outside, and when it gets really cold, that becomes a lot less safe,” he added.

“There’s a risk of frostbite. There’s risk of hypothermia, all sorts of things.”

What's On

Top five things to do at the Medicine Hat Public Library in April

Apr 01, 2026

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat: March 27-29

Mar 27, 2026

What's On

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat: March 20-22

Mar 20, 2026

The City of Medicine Hat is working with the Alberta Government and the housing society to open a temporary shelter location to offer additional beds, above what is already offered at The Mustard Seed’s Eighth Street Southeast location.

Managing Director of Public Services with the City, Joe Hutter, said they plan to add 20 additional beds at a separate location.

“We’re working on putting some information together for an application to the province, and this will have to go through the permitting process and all of that, but we’re working very, very diligently on this, recognizing the colder weather,” Hutter said.

An exact time frame for when a temporary shelter could open is not known yet.

The Mustard Seed’s discussions with the City and the provincial government are ongoing, as part of the search for an all-in-one location for the organization within the city.

The Mustard Seed’s Community Impact Centre on Allowance Avenue Southeast was closed to the public at the end of February, after operating at the site since April 2021.

—

READ: Mustard Seed closes Medicine Hat daytime centre permanently (Feb. 28, 2025)

—

Discontent from residents in the Flats area over the behaviour of those who used the facility contributed to the decision to close the building to the public.

—

READ: Here’s what to know about the future of The Mustard Seed in Medicine Hat (Feb. 20, 2025)

—

The Mustard Seed continues to operate its ghost kitchen out of the Allowance Avenue location.

“That kitchen is operating, cooking the meals and then shipping them over to the shelter, as well as making those bag breakfast lunches we are out in the community delivering,” Conrad said.

“We’re still operating some of our outreach programs. It’s just more decentralized, and so we have a mobile outreach team,” Conrad said.

“They’re providing some warm clothing, essential things like gloves, mitts, toques, hand warmers, things like that. They’re doing wellness checks,” he added.

“We also have our health and wellness team who’s working in the community doing advocacy work and mental health supports and things like that. We have gotten creative.”

Conrad said that even with all the change, the team at the shelter has been able to help house or keep housed 11 individuals in November.

“They’re still getting the support that they need and and they are accessing housing. It’s a pretty incredible thing,” Conrad said.

“People come to the shelter and our shelter staff are support caseworkers essentially, so they work with the individual staying with us to identify barriers to housing and hopefully help them move forward,” he added.

“[In] Medicine Hat, we don’t have our own housing, so that would be working with other agencies, but we also have health and wellness programs in Medicine Hat. We’ll work internally with those teams to help people, accomplish goals, get sustainably housed and move forward in life.”

Hutter said that discussions are continuing on a long-term solution for an all-in-one location for the Mustard Seed.

“We don’t have a lot of time right now for a temporary solution, but for the long-term solution, we do have a little bit of time now to get the process right,” Hutter said.

“We’re taking that time and ensuring that we’re going through the best steps.”

Conrad said they are pretty creative with the services that they do provide, so they can make almost any space work.

“We’re hopeful that the solution will come our way and we’re grateful for the community of Medicine Hat in supporting us, in this in-between time when we are looking for that site alongside the city,” Conrad said.

“Hopefully, eventually we can expand our capacity to help more people not just stay safe in the cold weather, but to get housed as well,” he added.

“That’s our ultimate goal: to help people get out of the shelter system and get into sustainable housing for themselves.”

The City of Medicine Hat continues to take suggestions on potential locations to host The Mustard Seed’s services.

Hutter said they have about 100 recommendations, some being repetitive, and will provide further information on those when the time comes.

“We’ll also weigh in on those recommendations, providing a bit of a context as to why, either we’re not going forward with that particular recommendation or an explanation as to why we are,” Hutter said.

“We will have some information on that in the future.”

He adds that the feedback coming in is appreciated.

“It’s great to have that community involvement and we’re certainly working as quickly as we can to find a solution,” Hutter said.

“I do appreciate the patience.”