Defeating the men’s shelter doesn’t solve the problem. Late afternoon on Oct. 22, the Lloydminster Men’s Shelter announced it had withdrawn its expansion plans. The sale of the building directly behind them had fallen through.
This ended a nearly two-month saga in which their image was dragged through the mud. Individuals across the city condemned, vilified, and accused them of being the source of everything wrong in Lloydminster.
It was also a classic demonstration of what happens when the “not in my backyard (NIMBY)” ideology rears its ugly head.
The expansion of the men’s shelter was the tipping point for many citizens in northeast Lloyd. They voiced their concerns to anyone who would listen, and their wrath was directed at elected officials, city staff, the media and shelter representatives. Hundreds of letters were received, meetings were held and officials spent hours on the phone listening to residents.
Even if some of the letters may have been written by artificial intelligence, the concerns raised by those residents are valid. The increased drug use and crime combined with depreciating home values and loitering were all legitimate. Even if the end solution isn’t necessarily the best for everyone involved.
What isn’t valid is what’s happening now.
Threatening the safety of individuals and groups who offer support to the unhoused should have no home in Lloydminster.
A significant portion of our community understands, unlike some, just how easy it can be to end up in that situation. The fact they choose to remain generally silent to avoid being shouted down doesn’t diminish the reality.
Those individuals have found ways to help provide for the unhoused population. Just because some residents don’t like it, doesn’t mean it isn’t both necessary and humanitarian to do so.
Meanwhile, other issues will remain because the expansion of the men’s shelter was halted and some residents lacked foresight.
Excrement in yards and alleys, loitering, and drug paraphernalia will continue to be an issue along with individuals found frozen to death over winter. Unless the city or community can come up with a solution, and quickly, that is the reality.
Another reality, when that happens, is NIMBY will raise its head again, yelling that it shouldn’t happen here. If only they had had a chance to prevent it.
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