Vacant school to shelter homeless families

A vacant Calgary school will likely become a temporary home for families as the city scrambles to find winter shelter for a growing number of homeless.

An organization called Inn from the Cold will run the shelter in the Dr. Carl Safran Centre atEighth Street and 12th Avenue SW. The former school will house 15 families from mid-December until spring.

Director Diana Segboer says the shelter will be open 24 hours a day and provide some stability for families while they get back on their feet.

"A child needs regular hours, he needs a routine. And that can be a first step that we can provide for them," she said.

At an open house Monday night, most neighbours in the community of Connaught welcomed the shelter, said Calgary Board of Education chair Pat Cochrane.

"For the most part it is very positive. People have some questions about the details, and once they hear them they go, 'Oh, this makes so much sense.' "

In the spring, the shelter will close and the school will be turned into offices, she said.

Soaring rents, tight rental market

Organizations that work with the homeless say there aren't enough shelter beds in Calgary because of the number of people flooding into the city to look for work.

The province's superheated economy has sent housing prices soaring, and the rental vacancy rate has dropped so low that even some people with full-time jobs have been sleeping in their cars or on mats in shelters.

As part of a city-wide emergency plan for the winter, a former Brick furniture store on 16th Avenue will become an emergency homeless shelter for 300 adults.

The city-owned building is set to be demolished in April to widen the street, which is part of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Calgary could use between 2,000 and 3,000 more affordable housing units, said Segboer.

"We need more affordable housing and until we have that, the problem is going to continue to grow because they have nowhere to go," she said.