By Jessie Weisner

Medicine Hat Community Housing Society presents year nine report

Jun 7, 2019 | 4:29 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Community Housing Society presented its year nine progress report at the Esplanade Friday, highlighting progress over the last years, and exciting new projects ahead.

In the last nine years, use of the three local shelters has gone down by 45 per cent, and Community Housing has successfully housed more than 1,200 people.

“We have some great services and programs that operate in the community, since the onset of our plan to end homelessness commenced in 2009 we’ve actually seen a 45 per cent reduction in shelter utilization across our three shelters,” says Jamie Rogers, manager of the homeless and housing development department of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society. “It’s really important for the community and others to know that we’re not looking for a zero per cent utilization of shelters, emergency shelters will always be needed in community.”

In 2018, the foundation housed 60 local individuals using the Housing First programs. 

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Rogers says although the programs are important, a lot more goes on with the foundation. 

“Yes, we highlight the housing first programs typically but there’s so much work that goes on behind the scenes and with our peripheral programs as well that are just as important and valuable to the work we do,” she says. 

Although homelessness does still exist in Medicine Hat, Rogers says it’s the communities job to ensure those individuals have resources available to them. 

“The communities role and responsibility really is about ensuring that the proper programs and services are available for individuals so what we don’t have control over is people’s choice to engage in those services,” says Rogers. “We do have an obligation to engage with lived experiences to ensure the programs we’re offering are what they need and what they’re looking for.”

There’s big plans for 2019 as well, they’ll be releasing a new housing strategy, looking at local needs from low-income to executive housing. 

“A housing strategy for all of Medicine Hat,” says Rogers. “So it’s really not specific for individuals experiencing homelessness or that are vulnerable or low income, we’re going to look at the spectrum of housing needed from homelessness to executive housing because if its a community plan, it needs to include all members of community.”

The largest announcement includes a new facility in partnership with Alberta Health Services.

“The most exciting project is our partnership with Alberta Health Services right now and looking at opening a nine bed facility for individuals in detox waiting to go into treatment,” says Rogers. “Also those who have gone through treatment, waiting to transition back into community in a different type of environment so they’re not returning to an environment that got them into treatment in the first place.”

That facility will be launched in just a few weeks time.