Alberta, Ottawa discuss funding for homelessness, more talks expected in coming days

EDMONTON — The federal housing minister and the Alberta minister in charge of the file have spoken about funding to tackle encampments and homelessness.

The phone conversation comes after Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement Tuesday that Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan hadn’t formally responded to an offer of funding.

Officials say that during the call, Jason Nixon, Alberta’s minister of seniors, community and social services, expressed his government’s continued willingness to partner with Ottawa and to cost-match the additional federal funding.

They say Nixon and Fraser agreed to provide the initial funding to the “priority communities” of Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer.

Officials say the ministers have directed their respective camps to meet in the coming days to hammer out a deal that would see the money go to those communities on an urgent basis.

Nixon had earlier said his officials have been actively meeting with Ottawa on the file, the province hadn’t received any deal and he wasn’t aware of any deadline.

Ottawa committed $250 million over two years in its budget to provide more shelter spaces, transitional homes, harm reduction spaces and services.

Fraser said Tuesday that Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan had yet to officially get on board.

The minister said he reached out with a Sept. 18 letter looking to work with all provinces and territories.

“In the letter, we offered millions of dollars in additional funding in exchange for partnering with us and matching our contributions,” he said.

Fraser said he would go straight to cities to try to quickly match funding costs, including Edmonton and Calgary.

“We will no longer wait for (provinces) to muster the political will to act as winter gets closer and lives are put at risk,” he said.

Nixon called Fraser’s comments “bizarre and almost childish,” saying officials on both sides had been meeting, including as recently as Monday, to discuss a cost-matching agreement.

“We have no idea what Minister Fraser is talking about. And I’m not going to get too bogged down in it, because we’ve got bigger jobs to do than to play games with the federal government,” said Nixon.

“We were interested in the conversation, which is why we were participating in it. But we certainly don’t have any offer, and we certainly were never given any sort of deadline.”

Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra was likewise confounded by Fraser’s move.

“Up until today, we were under the impression that we were still working with the federal government on this matter,” he said in a Tuesday statement, adding that he looks forward to a meeting with Fraser scheduled for next week.

Saskatchewan is in the middle of a provincial election campaign, with election day on Monday. Its government officially dissolved Oct. 1.

Fraser acknowledged in his statement that some provinces had entered election periods since he sent his original letter but said there was “ample engagement before the letter was sent, and there is no longer time to wait as the weather gets colder.”

In a statement on Wednesday before the phone call with Nixon, Fraser’s office repeated that the deadline is the cold weather that’s beginning to set in and put unhoused people at risk.

“When we sent our original letter, we asked the government of Alberta to indicate which municipalities need the funding, and this has yet to be responded to, we can’t wait any longer and neither can those living in encampments,” it said.

Nixon said conversations between officials indicated there could be $17 million a year for two years, to be matched by the Alberta government.

He said the province is prepared for winter with its emergency shelter capacity.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government has passed legislation to gatekeep and veto any deal struck between municipalities and the federal government. The law isn’t expected to come into force until early 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press