A city resident has raised concerns about criminal activity, cleanliness, and safety at Wapiti House, the homeless shelter in Grande Prairie.

Kenneth Wilfer spoke of his experience at the shelter at the city’s Public and Protective Services Committee (PPSC) on May 13.

“I’m not a drug user, and I’ve been there for three months in the winter,” he told the committee.

His concerns include open drug use, cleanliness, facility maintenance, and washroom access at night.

Kathy Lambert, Wapiti House executive director, said a significant portion of staff time is spent cleaning the shelter.

“We get reported to OHS, to be truthful, on a regular basis; they were here May 9, and we were in compliance,” she told the News.
“It is not an easy job to keep this place clean 100 per cent of the time, but we have never had any visits from Alberta Health Services or OHS come and say that we’ve been not in compliance.”

Lambert noted that regular maintenance inspections are also done around the shelter, and the province also does annual inspections.

She said she was surprised by Wilfer’s presentation.

“Concerns hadn’t been brought forward to myself prior to us finding out that he was going to council,” she said.

But Wilfer said he has spoken to Wapiti House administration, police and health authorities about his issues.

He said that drug use within the building is an issue and that he has gotten sick from being there and is now on antibiotics. He also believes better ventilation is needed.

“You’re not supposed to do drugs in there, but I’ve seen RCMP in there busting somebody while dealers are dealing drugs, like three beds over and dies of smoking methamphetamines basically beside me, and they don’t do nothing,” he told the committee.

Wapiti House project lead Jared Gossen said “substance use remains a challenge,” and regular safety checks are done.

“Individuals found using substances are issued a 24-hour service restriction, to maintain the safety of residents and staff,” he said.

Gossen said Wapiti House is facing about a 70 per cent increase in use.

“Last year, around this time, we saw about 162 people per month come through and access services, and now in the first quarter, we’re averaging 279 visitors a month.”

Additionally, the demographics of those accessing the shelter are also changing.

“What we’re seeing more and more now is it’s not just high-risk individuals experiencing homelessness, right as resulting from mental health and addictions, but it’s a lot more individuals who are still somewhat engaged in the workforce, but experiencing poverty, and just being priced out of accessible housing.”

He said seniors and people with developmental disabilities are among those now looking to access the shelter.

It created what Gossen called a “culture clash.”

He said if it were not for other available programs – such as Cedar Point – the shelter’s numbers would be much higher.

An offsite program, Foundations, offers substance-free transitional housing for about 10 people to help them get back into the housing market. He said that many people are still being turned away due to the limited space.

“We’re supporting who we can support,” said Lambert, “unfortunately, Grande Prairie is a hub.”

She noted Peace River closed its shelter and has seen people from there come for Wapiti House’s resources.

The issue persists across the province.

“We got a phone call from an agency this morning, and they want to send people here, where their closest shelter was Calgary or Edmonton, and we highly suggested that we’re at capacity, that they need to be sending people to the bigger shelters that are closer to them,” said Lambert.

Bathroom access

Wilfer’s concerns include cleanliness and access to shelter bathrooms.

“Number one is the washrooms; (they) are not cleaned by the cleaners; the washrooms are cleaned by the homeless people, and they don’t know how to clean them,” he told the committee.

In response to the concerns raised at the PPSC meeting, Gossen said the shelter has reviewed and updated protocols to address cleanliness, safety, and resident well-being.

“Both staff and residents contribute to the upkeep of shower and washroom facilities, with enhanced supervision under review to ensure consistent standards.”

Wilfer said washrooms available at night include two near the front desk and outside that he says are always occupied. Bathrooms near the cots are closed from midnight to 7 a.m., which Lambert says are due to safety concerns.

“Typically, one or two people are not happy that the bathrooms are closed, but the majority in cots, there’s 43 people, are happy it’s closed,” Lambert said.

“They want to sleep at night; they want to feel safe; we don’t have a staff member to stand in the bathroom to make sure there’s no drug use going on in there.”

Gossen said he has responded to many overdoses within the bathrooms.

“It’s hard because you want to give people their privacy to go into the stall … and then you’re responding to an overdose,” he said.

“Staffing levels are a little bit reduced at night, bathrooms become this high-risk area, so that that seven-hour window is really to increase safety.”

“I find it offensive that bathrooms are locked,” said Coun. Gladys Blackmore.

“We have known for a long time that access to bathrooms is one of the most dehumanizing things that we do to our street-engaged population, and it offends me greatly that a washroom in a facility that’s built to accommodate street-engaged people would, in fact, lock their washrooms.”

“We’ve got a higher demand for services than these facilities are ever designed to address,” Gossen said.

He said it becomes additionally difficult for night staff if multiple overdoses are happening in bathrooms.

Still, the shelter does see fatalities, Gossen said.

“Most of the fatalities that have happened on site are not a result of an overdose because, unfortunately, we are really good at responding to overdose, most are health complications.

“With the collapse of the health care system, we are seeing people in the shelter with highly complex medical conditions; they should be supported somewhere else, but every public system is quite overrun with requests for support.”

Lambert said a large barrier facing Wapiti House is its lack of food funding.

“We are dealing with a lot of individuals who have mental health issues and addictions and/or both, so not even being able to ensure that we can provide meals does add to the behavioural component on everybody, and it is a very high crisis environment.”

Wilfer says he is in the process of writing a letter to Premier Danielle Smith about his concerns.