Edmonton's centralized homeless support centre set to move to McCauley
In a news release Monday, the province announced that Edmonton's Navigation and Support Centre is relocating from its current downtown site at Hope Mission's Karis Centre, to the McCauley neighbourhood, around 105A Avenue and 96th Street.
The release said the centre will continue to be operated by the Hope Mission organization.
The centre was initially created in January 2024 as a temporary centralized co-ordination space for people to find shelter spaces and access supports if they were impacted by encampment removals.
In March 2024, the province announced the Navigation and Support Centre would remain open permanently.
The purpose of the centre is to connect individuals with a things like income and housing supports, ID services, recovery and addiction treatment, and Indigenous cultural supports. The centre also provides transport to and from the centre to shelters and service providers.
Tim Pasma, a senior director at Hope Mission, said the centre's previous site sees around 50 to 60 people using its services per day, and he said he expects the new site will attract more people.
He said the new location will also be "within walking distance for more people who are in need in our city."
"It's more accessible. So it's not in the basement of the previous centre that we had," said Pasma.
The new release said the new location will also be closer to other support services and emergency shelters.
Pasma said the new site is not just about attracting more people to the centre, it's also about "enhancing the quality of care that we can provide."
WATCH | New location for navigation centre in Edmonton:
Pasma said the size of the new spot will allow for more private conversations while people are having their needs assessed.
He said the new space will increase the "quality of conversations that we can provide, because our ultimate goal is to be able to provide high-quality services to people who are in need."
In its release, the province said the centre has assisted more than 7,780 people and made more than 33,700 connections to support services as of Aug. 15.
Anne Stevenson, the city councillor who represents Edmonton's downtown area where the new centre will be located, said the already high number of support services in the area "is always top of mind for folks living in McCauley and the businesses in Chinatown."
"The over 600 emergency shelter beds that exist in the Chinatown neighborhood are, I think, what contributes to a lot of the pressures in the community," Stevenson said.
However, she said she is optimistic that this new centre will alleviate this pressure on other support services and shelters in the Chinatown area.
"For me, the Navigation Centre actually helps to remedy that situation. It connects people to the services that they need to exit homelessness. So in that way, I can see it having a positive benefit."
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