Help 'working poor' get housing, municipalities ask Alberta

Community leaders from across Alberta want $20 million from the province to helpbattle homelessness.

Alberta's boom is pushingthe cost of housing up so fast that the province is developing "a class of working poor" people who have jobs but can't afforda placeto live, the leadersof seven Alberta municipalities on Monday told aConservative committee studying the problem.

The municipalities say they're already committing as much as their citizens can afford, and extra money is needed immediately to help fund local outreach and social services.

"There's no time to waste when you are dealing with people's lives," Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel said at the legislature. "Put the kind of money into it that's necessary because if you don't spend it now, you're going to spend a whole bunch later on [the] problemsof crime on the streetsand other issues that are far more expensive."

Most members of the standing committee on health and community living were supportive of the idea, but couldn't say when or if the funding would come through.

"I expect it to be supported," George Rogers, MLA for Leduc-Beaumont-Devon, told CBC News. "I can't tell you that it's going to be supported to the tune of $20 million, butI don't think anyone in this government can ignore the magnitude of the problem."

The municipalities also want the province to make a five-year commitment to continue funding programs to help the homeless.