By Curtis Galbraith

Community

Extra provincial funding means two extra beds for Odyssey House

Mar 24, 2024 | 6:00 AM

An Odyssey House official says extra funding from the province for the current provincial fiscal year allowed it to have two more beds.

The Grande Prairie shelter got a little over $80,000 out of the extra $5 million the province included in the 2023-24 budget.

Executive director Lisa Watson says this allowed Odyssey House to house intakes from RCMP or Child and Family Services.

“It will be a great help for us to have those beds funded. It just really helps us to make sure that we have the appropriate staffing and resources for anyone experiencing violence.”

Watson says adding beds is great but enhancing supports is also important.

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“Because not everybody needs to come into shelter. I think the statistics produced by (the) Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters was that only about six per cent of women that call crisis lines come into shelter.”

“Enhancing our services that are community-based and we meet people where they’re at is definitely a focus of ours moving forward into the future.”

Watson says Odyssey House now has 44 beds.

“We’re actually very full right now. We’re seeing a lot of families that are needing that support through our emergency shelter program. We’re typically operating at a full occupancy rate.”

The province has announced another $1.5 million in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, and $2 million in 2026-27 for shelters to add spaces.

Watson says Odyssey House does not yet know what its share will be.