Your Council is Kicking the Can on Homelessness
Honestly though, sometimes you look at the council agenda and it's like watching an Oilers power play where they just pass the puck around the perimeter for two minutes. Yesterday, the Community and Public Services Committee met, and while they did approve some routine stuff like the agenda and minutes (all carried 3-0, by the way, with Rutherford, Wright, and Morgan present), the real action, or lack thereof, was on homelessness.
Two critical reports, "Options to Support Emergency Shelters" and "Transition Strategy for Homelessness Related Services - Additional Information," were supposed to get some traction. But instead of debating the reports, councillors voted 4-0 to *approve the recommendations* without debate. Then, those recommendations included pushing back the due date for the shelters report to September 25, 2026, and the transition strategy report to a frankly uninspiring "To be determined." It’s hard to build character when we keep kicking the can down the road, you know?
Edmonton doesn't need your approval. Never did. But it does need solutions for our most vulnerable, and pushing these decisions off doesn't feel like a solution. We’ll be watching to see if these reports actually materialize by the revised, or rather, unrevised, deadlines.
Darren Fedoruk (@deepnorth_yeg)
The morning crew is diving into this — listen live at mornings.live.