Construction is scheduled to start this year on a transitional housing project in Edmonton’s Parkdale neighbourhood that will be modelled after the Bridge Healing program in Glenwood. Like the Glenwood facility, the two future buildings in Parkdale will provide housing and wrap-around services for 24 people who have been discharged from hospital but have no home to return to. “This will be an opportunity for all of you to practice medicine without a license because this allows us to change lives,” said Dr. Louis Francescutti, an emergency department physician who helped create the bridge healing model, at a ceremonial groundbreaking on Friday. Francescutti continued, “There’s 30,000 Albertans that visit our emergency rooms every year that are unhoused. That’s the equivalent population of Banff, Jasper and Canmore combined. If you get diagnosed as being unhoused in the next five years, you have a 20 per cent chance of dying.” “This is an issue of justice,” added Murray Soroka, Jasper Place Wellness Centre’s executive director. “It’s very difficult to work your way out of poverty – almost impossible for most of the people we serve. We need, as a society, to build bridges for people that can work their way out of poverty, and this type of housing will make that happen.” The land at 8116 115 Ave. used to be a bus loop. The city sold it to Jasper Place Wellness Centre for $1 in 2024. The Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation will be fundraising $10 million for the project, which can also receive a grant of up to $900,000 through the city’s Housing Accelerator Fund. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said providing the land is a cost-effective way for the city to help tackle homelessness and could be easily done by other municipal governments in Canada. “Making sure that our neighbours are cared for and looked after is a shared responsibility of everyone,” he remarked. According to the mayor, Edmonton’s unhoused population numbers around 5,000. The Glenwood facility consists of 36 units and has housed nearly 450 people since it began opening in stages starting in 2023.
