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By David Opinko

1/3 in Lethbridge say quality of life has worsened: Survey

Jul 6, 2022 | 3:33 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new survey is giving insights into what the residents of Lethbridge think of the city and what could use the most improvement.

The City of Lethbridge has released the results of the 2022 Community Survey. Ipsos polled 400 adult residents of Lethbridge between April 7-27, 2022.

90% of respondents say their quality of life is positive overall, although that number has been as high as 98% in four of the last seven times this survey was conducted.

At the same time, 34% say their quality of life has worsened over the last two years. 54% said their quality of life has stayed the same while 12% feel it has improved.

The top reasons that people felt their quality of life worsened are crime (24%), the economy (20%), and COVID-19 (18%).

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For those who felt that their lives are on the upswing, they cited Lethbridge being a great city to live in (12%), improved employment (11%), and having more parks and other recreational facilities (10%).

The top issues on the minds of Lethbridge residents are social issues such as homelessness, affordable housing, and poverty; transportation; and there was a tie between drugs/injection site and crime.

Respondents had an overall favourable view of City of Lethbridge services and programs with 82% saying they are either “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied,” although satisfaction has been falling in recent years.

Some of the municipality’s primary strengths are its services for fire protection, garbage and recycling collection, recreational facilities, ambulance services, and parks. On the other hand, people felt that policing, snow removal, and street and sidewalk maintenance could use the most improvement.

On a question about peoples’ level of satisfaction with the performance of city council, there only appeared to be options for “very satisfied” and “somewhat satisfied.” Three-quarters said they were somewhat satisfied and 15% were very satisfied.

You can see the full survey results on the City of Lethbridge website.