The John Howard Society of Alberta will officially be moving into the City of Cold Lake.
“It's absolutely amazing that the City of Cold Lake has come forward with two years of funding,” said Chris Hay, Executive Director of the JHS of Alberta, adding that it's been a long time coming.
During their Jan. 12 meeting, council voted in favour of providing $88,850 in funding to the society for two years, allowing them to get a start at helping homeless men within the city.
“It's going to be exciting. I think we'll see what the demand is out there. Until you have someone dedicated, hitting the streets, you don't know how bad it is,” said Mayor Craig Copeland. “This is just one thing that's a need in the community and you can keep pointing fingers, but in this case, council decided to fund the John Howard Society, get an outreach worker in the community to see what's going on.”
The idea of Cold Lake acquiring the JHS all got started following the needs assessment in 2012, when the Men in Crisis Committee was created. The committee approached the John Howard Society of Alberta to consider forming a chapter in Cold Lake. After the city was accepted as a location for a new John Howard Society, the Men In Crisis Committee was concluded and a start up committee for the Cold Lake John Howard Society was appointed.
Originally, Hay approached city council in March 2015, requesting assistance in the creation of a mat program in Cold Lake. The program would have provided a shelter for homeless men to spend the night in, as well as a hot meal.
With the economy in a decline, that goal never came to realty as they had a lack of success when looking for funding partners in the community. Hay was back in front of council in December, with a revised plan for their start in the city.
“I think, to be perfectly honest, we had to reformulate because there just wasn't enough money to achieve what we wanted to achieve. The $400,000 we were asking for just wasn't in the cards right now,” Hay said at the Dec. 8 council meeting.
Under the new plan for Cold Lake, the JHS will set up an outreach program instead of a shelter program. Hiring one person to serve as the executive director and an outreach worker, that employee will work to help connect homeless men with services to get them back on their feet.
“It's a stepping stone,” said Hay. “We'd still like to eventually get the mat program started in Cold Lake.”
In addition to two years of funding, the city will also be providing a space for the new program to operate out of.
“They're going to hire one worker and will move into the vacant FCSS office,” explained Christine McWillis, Cold Lake's general manager of community services. “There is a second office available, which we could lease to them if they find they need it.”
However, that decision didn't come without concerns, as some councillors noted the clientele of the JHS may not mesh well with that of the FCSS and Parent Link Centre.
“I would like to see this taken back to corporate priorities for discussion,” said Coun. Duane Lay. “I'm not sure how I feel having them in the FCSS with the kids over there.”
Coun. Kelvin Plain also expressed concern, but over the well-being of the JHS worker.
“From a safety perspective for the one worker, are there any sort of buttons in the office where they could get ahold of someone in case of an emergency,” said Plain. “I would like to make sure there are some safety measures taken.”
Now that they have secured the funding, Hay said they will start the hiring process before moving into the office, which he noted could take four to six months. Of the $85,850 in funding, $67,500 of it will go towards salary alone, with the remaining amount being used for office supplies and program expenses.
Whoever is hired as the executive director/outreach worker will be responsible for helping out clients with various tasks that will help them get back on their feet, such as assisting them in getting a bank account and applying for jobs.
“It's going to be a unique position, I think if they hire the right person it's going to be a pretty cool job. There's lots of agencies they can work with in the community so I think that person's going to be more mobile, doing a lot of walking and driving around the community rather than in an office,” said Copeland. “So, we'll give them a start. We'll give them a roof over their head with a professional looking office for now, but I won't be surprised if they move elsewhere.”
City council voted 4-1 in favour of providing $88,850 per annum for two years, along with giving them the office space within the Cold Lake and District FCSS for a two-year period.
