Artists rendering of he new Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

Construction can go ahead on the new Sunrise House shelter

Jun 14, 2022 | 6:30 AM

Construction can go ahead on the replacement for the Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter.

City Council approved a development permit at last night’s meeting.

The shelter will go up on 107 Avenue near the Great Northern Casino and Margaret Edgson Manor.

Shelter executive director Tanya Wald. says she is excited to get this project going.

“It’s been a long time coming. A lot of work getting to this day. We came in feeling good about it, that we had worked closely with city and with administration and council throughout preparing over the last couple of years.”

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“Now, we are just really excited to get that shovel in the ground and get us a new building.”:

Wald says construction is expected to start in July with construction expected to take 14 months.

She adds fundraising “is getting there.”

“We have about $4 million already raised and the project is estimated at about $5.5. (million), so, a little bit more to raise.”

“We’re now at the stage where we’re really going to (the) community and to some of our corporate and business partners to finish off (collecting) that last of the money.”

Wald says the new building will have 24 shelter beds, double the current capacity. The new place will also include 11 supportive living units.

“We’ll have 11 bachelor suites for young people who are needing independence. (We will) have really strong case management wrapped around that, so we’re really setting them up to be really successful out in the world when they leave us.”

Wald says the emergency shelter will still be for youth aged 12 to 17, the same as it is now. The supportive units will be for young people aged 15 to 24.

She adds the number of kids coming into the shelter continues to increase. There is also an increase in mental health concerns and the new building will mean more programs and more room to have supports from services in the community.

Council also approved waiving a requirement under a city bylaw that requires registration of the land be cleared through the Land Titles Office. Council was told the wait at the office is now three to four months rather than three to four days. The land where the shelter is being built was city land.