Homeless shelter still a possibility for old remand centre

The province is considering using Edmonton's old remand centre to house homeless people as one of a number of possible future uses.

That's good news for inner-city agencies having difficulty finding accommodation for their clients.

Terry Zawalski, who's with the Operation Friendship Senior Society, would like to see a couple of floors devoted to helping older homeless people who need extra help.

"It's already arranged so it could be easily isolated, easily managed, kept sanitary," she said. "Right now sick people and elderly people and anybody who needs a little care, we're just not looking after them. It's just cruel and inhuman what we're doing to them..making them go to a mat on the floor."

Meredith Porter of the McCauley Community League wonders how that could be done when the city has imposed a moratorium on such inner city projects.

"If neighbourhoods like Terwillegar Town get to say no, then so do we."

But Alberta Infrastructure said that while no decision is expected on the remand centre for several months, the idea of a homeless shelter is still on the table.

"That's certainly one of the options being considered," said spokesperson Christine Way.