DIDSBURY – While municipalities across Alberta would like to see more done to help address pressing social issues such as housing, they wouldn’t want to see the costs downloaded onto cities, towns and villages by the provincial government, says Didsbury's mayor, Rhonda Hunter.
During the recent Alberta Municipalities conference, municipalities carried numerous resolutions calling for social issues to addressed going forward.
“The majority of the resolutions were dealing with social issues like housing and homelessness and health care, social issues that are provincial and federal responsibilities,” Hunter told the Albertan.
“We continue to lobby government to work on addressing all those issues, but we don’t want it to lead to us being downloaded with it, downloaded for us to be responsible for it,” she said.
“We have to be careful with those issues. There are groups and governing bodies that address those issues and have them in their purview and we want to see them funded and supported. But we don’t want to see the government start to download it to a municipal responsibility. We want to see the groups adequately funded.”
Alberta Municipalities’ membership carried resolutions calling on the provincial government to:
• Amend existing legislation or pass new legislation to increase protection for vulnerable residential tenants.
• Create or improve financial supports available to vulnerable residential tenants.
• Invest in rural municipalities to aid in the development of affordable housing units and support those most vulnerable to the current economic and health impacts.
• Invest in the cost-effective health and support services needed to help those with complex needs get housed and stay housed, resulting in a visible reduction in homelessness and a drastic savings in health, justice, and law enforcement costs.
• To provide a solution for municipalities of all populations who identify a need, to address the issues of addiction, homelessness, and public safety, and build on the province’s recovery-oriented system of addiction and mental health care.
Didsbury council looks forward to working with newly-elected AM president Tyler Gandam and vice-president Krista Gardner in "supporting issues of mid-size towns," said Hunter.
