Alberta to Bypass Community Groups to Fund Homeless Services Directly

Jason Nixon is seen during a news conference in Calgary, Sept. 15, 2020. The Canadian Press/Todd Korol

The Alberta government is changing how it funds social agencies working on homelessness, saying it hopes to improve accountability and address new challenges like rising rural homelessness and the drug crisis.

The province will now fund service providers directly, rather than handing the funds over to community-based organizations in large cities that distribute and administer them on behalf of the province, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said at a Dec. 20 press conference.

“This decision to have the province fund service providers directly will increase accountability and oversight of supports for Albertans experiencing homelessness,” Nixon said. “It will not result in funding reductions, but will result in more money going to front-line services and less red tape in the grant process.”

Under the previous model, the province provided funding through seven community-based organizations in some of Alberta’s largest cities, including Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, and Medicine Hat. Nixon said that while most of the work done so far aligns with the province’s objectives, there have been cases where funding was not allocated properly.

“We’ve seen evidence in the past of organizations distributing tents out into the community,” he said. “Our government is focused on shelter and housing, not on providing encampments. We want people in warm, safe shelters.”

While the previous system focused primarily on homelessness in the province’s larger cities, the new approach will help tackle the issue beyond urban areas. “We are seeing increases in rural homelessness and challenges that we’ve never seen before in communities,” Nixon said. “We are also seeing more and more pressure from the increased drug epidemic that needs to be discussed.”

With direct funding, the province can help front-line service providers improve their services, officials said.

The province will set up an expert panel to develop a long-term plan to reduce homelessness across the province, focusing on the needs of indigenous and rural populations, as well as addiction and mental health issues.

The panel will be co-chaired by Justin Wright, the MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, and Robin James, the chief administrative officer of the Lethbridge Housing Authority. The province said it will announce additional panel members at a later date.

Alberta Opposition NDP housing critic Janis Irwin said in a Dec. 20 social media post that the provincial government’s new approach is about “defunding some of the key organizations doing critical work and collecting data.” She added that “another panel” will not solve the housing crisis.

Irwin’s comments were echoed by Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, who said the new model “is taking money away from organizations that desperately need it to fight homelessness.”

The Calgary Homeless Foundation, one of the umbrella organizations that previously received and distributed provincial funding, said the policy change is a shift toward a more centralized funding model.

“Calgary Homeless Foundation has been invited to serve on [the advisory] panel, and we look forward to working closely with the Government of Alberta as they implement these new policy changes,” Bo Masterson, stakeholder engagement vice-president for the Calgary Homeless Foundation, told The Epoch Times in an email.

The Alberta government is spending more than $101 million on local support programs between 2024 and 2025 to be directly distributed to service providers, according to the province. The funds are part of a larger allocation of $210 million in the province’s 2024 budget to tackle homelessness.