An encampment set up outside of the Civic Centre Park in Lethbridge in August 2022. The City of Lethbridge provided its monthly update on its Encampment Strategy on July 12, 2023. (Photo: LNN)

By Christian Oldale

New services added as part of City of Lethbridge Encampment Strategy

Jul 12, 2023 | 2:29 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge has provided its monthly update on its Encampment Strategy.

Since the launch of the plan, the 311 contact centre has received 156 requests related to encampments. In all, 70 of the requests were for reports of encampments in the city, 22 for biohazards, 26 for debris with evidence of sleeping rough, and 28 were for needle debris.

Andrew Malcolm, General Manager of Community Social Development for the City of Lethbridge, said co-operation from those in the encampments has still been strong.

He explained, “Whether that’s through our outreach providers, our team ourselves, or LPS, we are still seeing a strong willingness to work with us.”

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The past month has seen new implementations to the strategy in order to fully flesh it out. The City hired three people as part of the plan, including two full-time encampment response positions and one full-time housing specialist, who was put in place at the end of June.

The City of Lethbridge added a new online report form to its website for the public to report a public safety issue, such as encampments. The form has seen 56 reports sent in since its launch on June 19.

Malcolm said weekly co-ordinated cleanups have seen the removal of 42 structures, totaling 2,345 kilograms of waste and materials.

Another addition in the past month is the Street Medicine program. This outreach-focused pilot project is funded through the City of Lethbridge and operated by the Blood Tribe Department of Health.

The program is aimed at providing heath care services to the homeless population, tailored towards medical services such as check-ups, simple disease management, and health referrals, among others.

Despite the addition of the Street Medicine program, Malcolm wants to remind residents that the service is not an emergency service.

He explained, “This is not a duplication or replication of EMS, and so anything the public [is] seeing that constitutes an emergency, we still really encourage and stress that they need to call 911. This is a supplementary service on outreach.”

The community is also asked to help report encampments by calling 311 or contacting 311 staff online, or they can submit an online form to report a public safety issue.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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