Ten years from now, I hope we will be able to look at our city and see a place with a thriving economy, a great quality of life, resilient and accessible infrastructure, and vibrant culture. Edmontonians will feel safe, supported and empowered to access the services they need and succeed in pursuing their goals.

But if ten years from now we have not made further progress on addressing the specific challenges faced by those experiencing poverty and houselessness, then it would mean we have not succeeded in building an Edmonton for all. 

Houselessness, addictions, mental health and poverty are inherently connected to the other objectives I’ve outlined in my campaign, like rebuilding the post-pandemic economy, but these issues also require specialized, targeted solutions to address. And there isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel; before the pandemic, we were seeing a steady decrease in the number of Edmontonians without a home thanks to coordinated efforts of social agencies and people who work in them, other partners and the City. 

In partnership with social agencies and Indigenous communities, we need to recommit to the plan to end homelessness and our housing-first approach, and readjust tactics to produce better outcomes for the chronically houseless. Working together, I believe we can make significant strides addressing homelessness and poverty in our city.

Identifying Buildings for Affordable Housing Retrofits 

There is a surplus of vacant office, mixed-use and residential spaces in Edmonton. Retrofitting these buildings could be an efficient way to create new housing spaces. We should prioritize vacant spaces along transit corridors and near existing services, as these sites would offer residents walkable access to services and businesses. 

This approach is already proving itself in Alberta; a vacant office tower in downtown Calgary is being converted into 82 units of affordable housing. 

My previously announced retrofit accelerator will expedite this work, and as Mayor I will work to get our federal and provincial counterparts on board to fund these projects. City Administration can do the groundwork of identifying the right buildings and put us in a prime position to receive funding for housing projects. 

Creating a Better Framework for Housing Development

Edmonton has a fantastic and dedicated network of nonprofits, housing providers, faith groups and community organizations, including Indigenous community organizations that work tirelessly to coordinate their services and help as many people as possible. This network has the capacity to collaborate, mobilize resources and identify land; I want to convene a community-based advisory group to do just that. 

As Mayor, I will gather leaders from various religious, Indigenous and cultural community organizations and civil backgrounds and housing providers at the same table to identify opportunities and make the most of our collaborative efforts. The current review of the Zoning Bylaw provides us an opportunity to assess how our current rules support projects like the 2017 collaboration between Westmount Presbyterian Church and Right at Home Housing Society. Having everyone around the table communicating and collaborating makes it easy to find opportunities like land donations and redevelopments that will have a net benefit for all parties and the community. 

Focusing on Mental Health 

So many people are struggling with their mental health right now. We need robust supports in place so the people that need help can access it. As Mayor, I will commission a new Edmonton Mental Health Action Plan, which will include an emphasis on system integration, data collection, youth access to services, and reaching underserved populations with both social services and medical care. This plan will need to find ways to ensure mental health experts are on the front lines responding to mental health emergencies rather than tying up police resources. 

But this can’t just be the responsibility of the cities. The provincial and federal governments have an important coordinated role to play here. I will relentlessly pursue every avenue to ensure they live up to their responsibilities on mental health supports, particularly in the post-COVID economic and social recovery.

Caring for People with Addictions

The provincial government is entrusted with managing resources and facilities for those struggling with addictions, and they have grievously underperformed on this file in recent years. The result is an epidemic of overdoses and deaths among those struggling with opioid addictions. I will not put up with that as your Mayor. We must make sure that the province sees the clear cost to their inaction. Using a coalition of community leaders, mental health, social service, and medical experts and advocates, as well as every other resource the Mayor’s office can bring to bear, we will push the provincial government in the strongest terms to fund prevention and intervention services and restore funding to safe consumption sites and harm reduction facilities – facilities that save the lives of our neighbours and friends while we pursue longer-term solutions.

I will take this fight to the federal government, too, particularly when it comes to providing adequate support and funding for supportive housing and to our city’s social agencies for outreach and support for vulnerable and marginalized populations. 

All Means All

I am not naive; I have seen first hand in my own personal experience and at a policy level that problems of poverty, addictions and houselessness don’t have simple solutions, and will not be fixed overnight. But I believe Edmonton has the compassion  and capacity to find the right solutions, day by day, year by year. We have come so far already and we will succeed if we apply our collective efforts to help each other.