By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

YWCA granted funds to explore Harbour House expansions

Apr 26, 2017 | 12:38 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Some much needed upgrades could be on the horizons for the Lethbridge YWCA Harbour House women’s emergency shelter.

On Monday (Apr. 24), City Council approved $251,000, from the City of Lethbridge affordable housing fund as recommended by the Social Housing in Action (SHIA) committee, for the organization to conduct a feasibility study.
 
That report will include a stakeholder analysis, risk assessment, environmental scan and needs assessment. It will then help define the expansions and supports required to meet growing needs for women and children in the community.
 
Jennifer Lepko, YWCA CEO, says there will be plenty of organizing work being done over the next few weeks to decide who will complete what parts of the feasibility study.
 
“We started these talks many, many years ago, and tried to come up with a plan as to how we were going to take the next steps. This money will be able to give us that opportunity to take those next steps, and making sure we’re doing a proper job planning,” Lepko continued.

She noted that 1,949 people were turned away from the Harbour House in 2015-16 due to a lack of available beds at the current facility, and that number is consistently on the rise. Within the next ten years, Lepko projects more than 5,000 will be turned away if expansions aren’t done.
 
Research for the study is just at its beginning stages at this time, Lepko noted, with no other solid timelines in place yet. She told Lethbridge News Now that the YWCA hopes to “get a good plan” together over the next year or so, and will determine appropriate building designs after that time.
 
“We have had an assessment done on this site, and we are unable to expand in terms of the building space. Now that being said, there is potentially the ability to keep this space and have another location,” Lepko explained.
 
“We would then determine is this the best place for Harbour House, or we could expand because we would move other programming off-site, or do we need a whole new building… It just depends on what we’re finding when we do the research of what the growth of the community as a whole is going to look like, to make sure we don’t leave any gaps.”
 
The Harbour House currently provides safe living spaces for women and children for a maximum 21 day long stay. A second stage housing program, which makes up the other half of the expansion proposal, could provide longer-term stays. It’s something Lepko says will help those in crisis situations make necessary life changes, and may reduce pressure on the emergency shelter.
 
She noted that similar programs are typically offered at a secondary location, but the plan for Lethbridge at this time is still unclear. Lepko says the YWCA will rely on the feasibility study and other such research to determine if another location is needed for the local program.
 
“We need to make sure that we are doing a proper design of a building…we need to really take a lot of factors into consideration,” Lepko added.
 
“Even though we needed this space last year — the last decade perhaps — we need to make sure that we do it right. And so, we’re not going to rush in terms of quality of what we’re going to be able to provide for our community.”