‘Best of all worlds’: Doctor, city officials tout benefits of transitional housing projects

The federal government is contributing $4 million to construct new healing houses in Parkdale. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg has more.

Mayor Andrew Knack says transitional housing, meant to bridge the recovery period for homeless people being discharged from Edmonton hospitals, would be ideal for almost every neighbourhood in the city to address service strain and support vulnerable people.

The City of Edmonton’s Parkdale neighbourhood project recently received $4 million from the federal government to complete the build. Crews are currently building 24 units modeled after the Jasper Place Wellness Centre’s Bridge Healing program.

Eleanor Olszewski, minister of emergency management and community resilience and minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), announced the spending in a Friday press conference. She called the project a “cycle-breaker.”

“These homes will serve Edmontonians who are leaving hospital but who otherwise do not have a place to call home,” she said. “Many people who are discharged from hospital don’t have stable housing and, quite obviously, that leads to a cycle of readmissions.”

Construction at 8116 115 Ave. began last year thanks to a joint effort from the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation and the Jasper Place Wellness Centre. The city sold the property to Jasper Place for $1 in 2024.

Mayor Andrew Knack said Friday the money from the feds would, in the long term, save all levels of government greater spending as the project offers wraparound supports for frequent flyers in social service programs.

“The data is abundantly clear at this point. It’s emergency rooms, it’s shelters, it’s social agencies, and there’s the policing and justice system as well, because vulnerable Edmontonians are at a higher risk of exploitation and victimization,” he remarked.

“I mean, legitimately, at this point you could make an argument for one per neighbourhood and that would probably still fall a little short of where we need to.”

A similar project already exists in Glenwood. That facility holds 36 units and has housed hundreds of people since it began opening in stages in 2023. Knack says it’s integrated well into the community.

Its units, though, are currently at 104-per-cent capacity, according to Jasper Place CEO Murray Soroka.

“A model of care is something that needs to go across Edmonton, across the province and across this country,” Soroka told reporters Friday. “We really believe that as we invest in this model of care, that we’ll see lives change and we’ll see emergency rooms have fewer vulnerable people.”

Emergency physician Louis Francescutti says Alberta saw 10,000 extra visits to emergency rooms last year because of patients experiencing homelessness. Programs like Bridge Healing, he said, help eliminate “moral distress” among health-care providers who would otherwise be releasing patients with nowhere to go.

“It’s the best of all worlds. In the end, these buildings could be life-saving just as much as a hospital,” he said Friday.

Soroka acknowledged that building transitional housing means consideration for amenity availability, like bus routes, access to food as well as medical care and pharmacies. Some resident concerns could also be expected, he noted.

A similar housing project, also done by Jasper Place, in the Highlands neighbourhood was approved by city council in September 2025 despite some pushback from residents who weren’t sure what the project may look like. The city ultimately sold both that property and one in west Edmonton’s Calder neighbourhood for $1.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg