Lethbridge Shelter & Resource Centre. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Intox centre and renovations to Lethbridge Shelter approved

Dec 10, 2019 | 1:34 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council and the Government of Alberta are working together on building an intox centre at the homeless shelter.

It falls under the province’s health jurisdiction, so they will be the ones to operate it. The City of Lethbridge owns the Lethbridge Shelter & Resource Centre, so they will essentially act as a landlord for the facility.

The province will be pumping $1.6-million in funding for the intox centre, while at Monday’s city council meeting, they approved allocating $300,000 from the Affordable Housing Program Municipal Block Fund.

“What we approved funding for was renovations in our own building to help support somebody who was renting the building, which in this case, is the Government of Alberta,” explains Councillor Belinda Crowson.

The municipal money will be used to install additional fencing and a security system around the facility to ensure that neighbouring businesses are protected.

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As for the intox component, Crowson says that anyone who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs can be assisted in any medical needs they might have while the substance makes its way out of their system.

She adds that this is not a “drunk tank”.

“This is a [medically] supervised site, this is done properly under the appropriate care to make sure that people are coming out of an episode of some sort of intoxication, whether it’s drugs or alcohol, in a safe manner. It is better for the persons involved, it is better for the community, and it is an important step in the continuum of care.”

The intox facility will be connected to organizations like LPS and the Diversion Outreach Team, which were among the groups that initially asked for something like this.

Crowson was not able to comment on the timelines for the intox facility as it is under the jurisdiction of the province.