HerbJamiesonCentre

Surprises were in store for the men who use the Herb Jamieson homeless shelter. The Herb Jamieson centre has a capacity for 400 people and operated 24/7 until Wednesday when people found out it will not be open as usual during the day. Prior to Wednesday men who spent the night at the Centre were woken up at 8:30, then took their time leaving and could return after two hours. From Wednesday on those who spend the night will have to leave at 6:30 every morning and can return at 8:30 p.m. when the shelter reopens.

Tim Pasma of Hope Mission clarified the space previously used for daytime sleeping has been converted to more of a community space model where people can access things like housing, addiction treatment, recovery services, AIDS services, other social supports.

The two largest shelters for the homeless in Edmonton are the Herb Jamieson Centre and Hope Mission. The Coalition for Justice and Human Rights obtained documents via a freedom of information request, there were 443 assaults since 2021. These shelters are meant to be safe sites but this data confirms that one of the reasons that some homeless people give for not going to shelters or preferring not to is because of the risk of assault and violence within the shelters or immediately outside. More staff training and a greater police presence are tow of the suggested practices to bring these numbers down.

In addition to the assaults workers at the two centres have to contend with what happens because of overcrowding. There are bacteria and viral outbreaks, bacterial infections with parasites like lice and bedbugs. Overcrowding will continue as long as the number of homeless grows so the challenge remains as how to better deal with the problems of overcrowding.