If you are an Alberta resident, please sign this petition and come join us at a rally near you!   

ALBERTA CARES about Housing and Homelessness, but we see very little improvement year after year, and it seems things are only getting worse! It is time our government took it seriously. 2023 is a big election year for our province, let’s make this a top priority in the new legislature! Join over 100,000 fellow Albertans of every age, faith, culture and ability as we stand together in rallies taking place across the province. Click here to find a rally near you!

(A Quick FYI: Edmonton is going to kick things off with a first rally on March 24 at 2 pm at the Legislature.  If you're in the area, come join us if you can!)  

This petition is to ensure every voice is heard, even if you can't make in person to a rally in your area.  By signing this petition, you are saying, 

IT IS TIME for Alberta to build a wise, well-resourced, and well-constructed long-term plan to address housing and homelessness challenges in Alberta.

To be successful, the plan must be pro-active and collaboratively designed with broad buy-in and participation across the political spectrum, making it resilient to disruptions and changes in ideological currents.

What does a strong and effective, long-term plan look like?  Keep reading!

Key ingredients of a successful plan:

• Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)—These are homes for people who have built-in supports that enable people to work through trauma, stabilize their mental health, and begin to recover from addictions
• Rapid Rehousing—A long wait for help means those in need can fall deeper into health-related or addiction issues which makes recovery more challenging
• Reduce emphasis on emergency services in favour of both prevention and recovery—making the shelters we do need small, safe and well-woven into the local fabric of communities all over our cities.
• Affordable Housing—there are many possible approaches to consider as part of the solution, including rent assistance, affordable housing run by non-profits, cooperative housing, embedded affordable units inside market rentals... 
• Enabling community care—Albertans want to help in real, impactful ways. Bridging professional and natural community supports will help us truly care for each other in deeper ways.  (Wraparound structures are great for this!)
• Questions that we will need to ponder with care:
  1. The big question: How do we really help people heal, stabilize, recover, and get stronger?
  2. How do we care for people who say no to help?
  3. How do we care for people who turn violent in psychosis?
  4. How do we care for people who struggle with life-long addictions and mental health challenges?
  5. How strong should police and bylaw responses be when responding to a person in crisis?

Here's a big idea that we want to put on the table:  We recommend the Province of Alberta to set up (in 2023) a capital fund of $3 billion for new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and recovery centres throughout the province; with that amount broken down as ONE BILLION DOLLARS EACH for...

• Edmonton
• Calgary
• The rest of the province

These funds can be provided as interest-free loans to qualified operators with all funds to be repaid in full over time.

Structuring loans this way will allow these funds to keep building housing and recovery centres into the future and reduce further capital investments from either the Province or Municipalities. This will greatly reduce costs to taxpayers over the long term!

Let’s stand together and make it clear that all Albertans care about getting this right!   100,000 strong on March 24th!  #Albertacares2023

Rally sponsored by:

Edmonton's Interfaith Housing Society:  "Religious and Spiritual Communities working together to address housing and homelessness in Edmonton's Capital Region."

www.interfaithhousing.ca