$21.4M for housing announced as cold snap fills shelters

The Alberta government has announced $21.4 million for the Mustard Seed to build affordable apartments for the homeless.

The funding was announced Tuesday morning as a cold snap had shelters scrambling to help everyone who needed a place to stay.

The Mustard Seed is a non-profit Christian organization that feeds and houses the poor.

The new apartments, at 105-10th Ave. S.E., will have at least112 bachelor and one-bedroom apartments, as well as support services such as mentalhealth and addictions counselling, and employment and life-skills training.

The Mustard Seed hopes to break ground on the scaled-back project by August, but organizers still need a development permit from the city and are looking for more funding to complete the project, which doesn't have a final price tag.

Mustard Seed spokesman Floyd Perras said homeless people who agree to a drug- and alcohol-free lifestylewill be able toapply to stay in the small units, moving out when can afford their own places.

"To live in a shelter, you don't get sleep, you have a lack of security, a lack of stability. If you do that very long, even if you have a job, your own person starts to deteriorate, your mental health deteriorates. Often you get into drugs and addictions."

Dave Phillips, a senior who has been living at the Mustard Seed for three years, started by sleeping on a mat on the floor. Now he's living with two other men in one of the30 apartments upstairs.

"When I first came here, I had no identification and I had no income at all," he said. "Hopefully by the first of thenew year, I'll have my own place."

Shelters full during cold snap

Calgary's shelters are full as the homeless try to escape the frigid streets each night.

Louise Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the Calgary Drop-In Centre, said the facility, whichcan shelter 1,100 individuals,is at capacity.

"We have been every night, yes, but we won't turn anyone away, so we just find space for them somewhere," she said. "We bring mats down from other floors and just do everything we can to make sure nobody is left out in the cold."

Tables in a common area are replaced with sleeping mats in the evening.

On Monday night, when thetemperature reached24 C at 8 p.m., people werewalking around bundled in parkas. Some slept sitting up against walls, others slept on blankets on the floor.

"I've got frostbit toes and fingers. I'm just trying to keep the rest of me intact," said Evelyn Loma.

Ken Kent normally sleeps at the Calgary Alpha House's emergency shelter, but on Sunday a pipe burst, causing flooding to the area where 55 people sleep every night.

"It was the night from hell," he said. "Sleeping in a cardboard recycling bin is not a lot of fun. That was the worst night I spent."

The pipe has been fixed and the shelter is open again.