City Committee to Meet to Discuss Supports for Vulnerable Calgarians – Calgary | The Canadian News

With temperatures in recent days beginning to drop and reflecting how Calgarys should feel in early December, a community development committee is meeting at City Hall on Wednesday to discuss how to support Calgarians who are homeless during the cold months ahead.

The meeting comes less than a week after Calgary law enforcement officers tore down a camp outside the Drop-In Center.

11th Ward Councilwoman Kourtney Penner is the committee chair. She says that while the conversation is timely with winter just around the corner, the problem has become more serious.

“We see a lot of people making use of our LRT stations and making use of the gates,” he said. “It’s very front and center.”

Nor is it only the city council that has realized.

The Calgary Fire Department says there has been an increase in camp-related fire calls.

“We have seen multiple calls … fires that have started … and destroyed the entire tent,” said Carol Henke, CFD public information officer.

Henke adds that many times in these calls, tents and other combustible materials have been too close to open flames.

Chaz Smith is the founder of Be The Change YYC and will speak at Wednesday’s meeting.

Smith says he would like emergency warming stations, such as LRT rigs, to be considered.

“We have all kinds of underutilized infrastructure throughout the city that is heating up, has electricity and has running water,” he said.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek is in Houston this week for the World Petroleum Congress and plans to meet with Sylvester Turner, the mayor of the city of Texas, to discuss how that city is supporting its vulnerable people.

“Whenever we can learn from other jurisdictions, I am incredibly interested in doing so,” she said.