City council votes against Albert Street shelter site

The wait for a permanent emergency shelter in Regina just got longer.

On Wednesday, council decided to not go through with the purchase of land at 1420 and 1440 Albert Street, which had been identified by city administration as a potential site for the shelter.

After more than seven hours of discussion and hearing input from numerous delegates, Regina City Council instead instructed administration to look elsewhere. Council voted for that option based on a motion by Ward 4 Coun. Lori Bresciani, which passed 6-5.

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Stevens didn’t bother hiding his frustration with the decision.

“I think we look, collectively, like a bunch of morons,” he told reporters.

“They put before us a recommendation. We brought that from executive. We had time to think about it, and then we spent (seven and a half hours) on that issue when it could have been 30 minutes.”

The decision also requires administration to return to council with a status report by October 9.

Councillors Bob Hawkins, John Findura, Lori Bresciani, Jason Mancinelli, Landon Mohl and Mayor Sandra Masters voted against purchasing the property.

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Council also passed an amended motion that would see council commit $3 million for the purchase of a permanent shelter space as soon as possible.

“The people who are houseless deserve a safe place to sleep, and there are currently not enough beds available to meet the growing need,” said delegate Andrea Soesbergen.

She spoke in favour of purchasing the site, but said the city still needs to do more because a permanent shelter would only replace the existing beds at The Nest Health Centre, which is serving as Regina’s temporary emergency shelter until the city’s lease expires in the summer of 2025.

Other delegates, like business owner Michael Griffin, spoke against the purchase. He said his building on Angus Street – home to the law firm Griffin Toews Maddigan – already has issues with littering and crime, and the proposed shelter would worsen those problems.

Regina city council voted against purchasing the site for the long-awaited permanent emergency homeless shelter which would have been located at 1420 and 1440 Albert Street. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

“I can say with absolute certainty that I would not, in a million years, put my office building exactly where it is in this day and age. It just wouldn’t happen. It’s not safe,” Griffin said.

Griffin said having a homeless shelter on a main street like Albert Street wouldn’t be attractive to tourists.

“We’re not opposed to a permanent shelter. We think it’s dearly needed in Regina, just not in this location,” he said.

Bresciani agreed that the location wasn’t ideal, which is why she motioned for council to reject the purchase during the meeting.

She took issue with the proposed shelter being located on one of Regina’s busiest roads.

“Where’s the dignity and humility for those individuals?” she asked.

City administration has been searching for a permanent shelter space for three years. Since January of 2023, the city has reviewed 35 properties.

During the meeting, city manager Niki Anderson said rejecting the purchase and searching for another location is city administration’s least-preferred option.

“This is as good as it’s going to get,” Anderson said during the meeting.

She added that another search wouldn’t be a good use of administration’s time.

LeBlanc also voiced his frustration with the process to reporters.

“It was plain to me that the idea of saying ‘Let’s just look for another location’ was a diversionary tactic,” LeBlanc said.

Ward 6 Coun. Dan LeBlanc said he’d be shocked if the issue comes back for a substantive vote before the next election. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

LeBlanc said council’s decision amounted to kicking the problem down the road. He noted that it would likely be another city council that would make the ultimate decision concerning the shelter, given the timing.

“I’ll eat my hat if this comes back for a substantive vote before the election in November,” he said.

LeBlanc said the decision on Wednesday was a cowardly retreat by some council members who were backing away from council’s prior commitments.

“If we had a book about this council’s approach to homelessness, it would be called ‘Thoughts and Prayers,’” he said.

LeBlanc said he’s hopeful that council will have another chance to address the permanent shelter before the election, but said he suspects that future proposed locations will be met with similar levels of trepidation by council.

Masters said community concerns are valid, and will need to be addressed no matter which direction council takes.

The mayor also acknowledged that there might not be a sufficient drug-use mitigation plan for the shelter no matter where it is situated.

Masters said the decision to not purchase the space was also motivated by the extra $1.5 million required for the strip mall, which came in a package deal.

“The word in all of this is ‘permanent,’ and so if you’re going to make it permanent it’s not ‘this is the only thing available’ it’s ‘let’s figure it out,’” she said.

During the meeting, concern was raised by councillors and administration about what would happen to the 55 or so people served by The Nest once the existing lease expires.

Masters said the city would be able to accommodate them in the short term.

Earlier this week, Stevens told 980 CJME that he had never seen a facility or proposal for a facility that was warmly embraced by all.

“You kind of confront this debate knowing that no matter where it’s going to go, there are people – for all sorts of reasons – who won’t like it,” Stevens said.

“It’s a difficulty, because you’re trying to balance different interests here.”

Stevens said he didn’t think some of the concerns brought forward during Wednesday’s meeting by councillors were raised good faith.

“I can’t speak for everybody, but I do question the motives. I don’t think they were genuine and, frankly, we should have just went right to the vote,” Stevens said.

He said he expects councillors to show similar trepidation around future proposed sites.

Council also decided to table discussions on the potential renaming of Dewdney Avenue to June 26.