Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen spoke about some of the highlights and challenges from 2023 as well as what residents can expect from the City of Lethbridge in 2024. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Year In Review: Blaine Hyggen, Mayor of Lethbridge

Dec 22, 2023 | 4:28 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge’s mayor said he is proud of the work the city accomplished on social issues in 2023 but admits that there is a lot left to do.

Hyggen spoke to Lethbridge News Now about the year that was and what he is looking forward to in the 12 months ahead.

“I think we had an extremely successful year, in light of coming out of a pandemic and inflation rates still where they are and many of the issues that any community shares,” said Hyggen. “I think we’ve done really well with the resources we’ve had, and so I’m pretty happy with 2023.”

He said social matters such as homelessness, mental health and addiction, and the issues that surround these continued to be a major focus for Lethbridge City Council.

Hyggen told LNN that council devoted a lot of time and effort this year into tackling these issues and trying to help people in need. One of his highlights for the year was enacting a new strategy to remove homeless encampments.

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“Dealing with that encampment strategy and council realizing that we not only needed to remove some of those structures, but understanding the importance of making sure we’re compassionate through this process and helping them get to the services that’re needed,” the mayor said.

He added, “It was very successful. We saw minimal encampments. Many of the folks that were part of encampments previously and would try to put up a tent here and there were helped by the different services that were provided with the additional funding that we had.”

READ MORE: City of Lethbridge approves coordinated Encampment Strategy

Hyggen admits that it is sometimes difficult address the social issues at the city level because many components of them fall under the jurisdiction of the provincial and federal governments, not the city.

Thankfully, he said, it has been easy to establish relationships with the new members of the Government of Alberta in the wake of this spring’s election.

“As soon as you have a change [in government], a lot of times, the new minister has got to learn the previous minister’s portfolio, and some of that change does come with some struggles in that you don’t have that consistency. We have had that for a while, which has been really good,” said Hyggen. “It has helped us make our way through the encampment strategy, the shelter and resource centre and working with them on that.”

The mayor said a big highlight for council in 2023 in which a good amount of progress has been made is with housing, especially regarding supportive housing.

Streets Alive Mission purchased a downtown building in June that will be used for people who are recovering from substance addiction. In October, the non-profit also received $560,000 in funding from the city for a separate supportive housing project aimed at helping those recovering from addiction.

At the same council meeting in October, members voted to approve $1,295,000 to retrofit a former retirement community to be used as affordable housing for seniors.

As well, council in September approved a rezoning application for a currently empty lot in north Lethbridge so that a new supportive housing complex could be built.

READ MORE: Streets Alive purchases downtown Lethbridge building for “safe secure housing”

READ MORE: Lethbridge City Council approves affordable & social housing developments

READ MORE: Lethbridge City Council approves rezoning for supportive housing complex

Hyggen, now half-way through his first term as mayor, also took the opportunity to reflect on his time in office so far.

He was previously a two-term city councillor and said, this time around, it feels different.

“Something I haven’t had in my eight years previous to being mayor was the level of respect that we have within our council. You see, many times, we may not be voting the same way on any particular topic – each of us are passionate about different things the community is looking for – but that’s ok,” he explained, adding that they will often spend time together outside of council meetings too.

Looking ahead to 2024, Hyggen said many of his priorities will likely stay the same as he wants to continue to tackle the social issues that have plagued Lethbridge for many years.

He said he always looks at a new year as an opportunity to grow further.

“I just want to be better in 2024, and you might ask, ‘What do you want to be better at?’ We can be better at anything. I think, sometimes, I’m not the best at resolutions when it comes to those New Year’s resolutions, but I do want to make sure we focus on being a better community and providing better for our community and doing what we can to support, especially those in need within our community.”

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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