YMCA announces closure of downtown housing operation

The YMCA of Northern Alberta announced Friday that the organization’s downtown housing operation would be shut down by the end of October, 2017.

Officials said Friday that the facility, located on 102 A Avenue, is housing about 120 residents. About half of them have lived there for two or more years.

Recently, the YMCA said the site has been serving an increasingly vulnerable population, but the building posed limits to the services the organization could provide to them, such as onsite food service, barrier-free access, independent washrooms, medical and medication management, access to mental health services and addictions treatment, and aides to daily-living services.

The decision to close the facility came after a two year review.

“Individuals here are living in an 8 by 10 [foot] room, with no kitchen or toilet facilities,” Nick Parkinson, President and CEO of the YMCA Northern Alberta. “It’s communal washrooms.”

“The model that we haven isn’t ideal, and that has also led to the difficult decision that we made.”

YMCA officials said architects and space planners were commissioned to come up with a plan to renovate the building, in an effort to keep the facility open, but it was determined no sustainable design was possible.

Officials said the facility will close by the end of October, 2017 – but the organization will work with those living at the facility to help them find permanent and affordable housing options, in addition to working with government and community housing service providers.