While the homeless community in Bonnyville isn’t the typical image that comes to mind for many, it’s still viewed as a growing concern.
”It’s a big issue,” noted Pauline Mawer, assistant executive director for the Bonnyville Friendship Centre. “It’s something that no one really talks about, and yet it’s there.”
That’s one of the reasons why Town of Bonnyville council requested administration look into it further during a special meeting on Monday, May 27, and create a report for further discussions.
Coun. Chad Colbourne asked if council had ever addressed the topic of homelessness in Bonnyville during a Feb. 12 meeting.
”It was brought to my attention that we have people living in cars and living in campers over the winter that just can’t afford homes,” he expressed.
For Mawer, many of her clients fall into the category of “hidden homeless.”
”The ones who are couch surfing, sleeping in their cars and campers, who don’t have a home, whether it’s because of finances, addictions, or bad situations,” she detailed, adding a number of them are sleeping in tents in the warmer months.
Due to the varying reasons someone may end up without a roof over their head, Mayor Gene Sobolewski stressed the importance of looking at the social issues surrounding it.
”I know homeless shelters in the past that kind of focused on providing an apartment or something like that, but the general trend is to try and look for a facility that you can also take a look at the actual rehabilitation back into society,” he explained.
In 2015, the Bonnyville Hidden Homeless Committee conducted a survey about homelessness in Bonnyville that received over 250 responses.
It found that homelessness, or the possibility of becoming homeless, is a reality for some living in the community.
Of those who participated, 30 per cent said they thought homelessness is an ongoing concern in town, while 25 per cent believed it’s a growing concern. Feedback stated more low-income units were needed locally.
According to the Point-in-Time Count, a provincially coordinated initiative that provides a snapshot of homelessness in Alberta, of those surveyed in 2018, around 5,700 had experienced homelessness. Males were more prevalent at 72 per cent, while women sat at 28 per cent. Urban centres, such as Calgary and Edmonton, had 85 per cent of those included, while 15 per cent were in other areas.
Council has tasked administration with reaching out to local groups, such as the Bonnyville Friendship Centre and the Bonnyville and District FCSS, in order to get a scope of the topic.
”We do have a number of homeless people within the community and area,” noted Coun. Brian McEvoy. “We need to quantify it, because right now, it’s anecdotal. If we can quantify that, working in partnership with the Bonnyville Friendship Centre, then we would have the information as a council to do something moving forward in the future.”
Sobolewski described the report “as a good start” to addressing the matter.
“Having discussions with the Bonnyville Friendship Centre and some of the others might be a big way to go if there’s a temporary (solution) in terms of a pop-up, and I think that addresses one component. If we’re going to look at the issue, we might want to... jump into it, wade into it, and then go to the province to see if there’s a partnership available to be able to actually do something.”
Addressing that Bonnyville has a homeless community is just one step toward coming up with long-term solutions, Mawer said.
”There’s so much judgment when it comes to homeless people, and I think that has to change. We have to have more compassion for this community, and I think that’s happening.”
Administration will gather information by reaching out to local organizations, and will bring it back to council.
