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Alpha House Discussion

It really depends on whose perspective you take. Alpha House does plenty of favours for people without homes. The fact is, homeless people are also car-less people. Shelters will always need to be located in inner-city areas that are within walking distance of the services that poor people rely on.

I seem to recall that you were particularly critical of homeless people sleeping on the streets and in parks. The main solution to getting people to move out of parks/streets is to provide them with accessible shelters. If we got rid of all the shelters in the Beltline, I guarantee you we'd have a tent city set up along the Bow or the Elbow. Would that improve the area for anyone?

I agree with you. I think you may have misunderstood me. I might not have been too clear. I'm not advocating for de-funding Alpha house or relocating it. In fact, I think Calgary's streets would be a lot rougher without the Alpha House. My point was that the alpha house and the DIC provide a challenge for residential and commercial developments as most non-homeless people tend to avoid the immediate vicinity.

Most people don't want to live close to a landfill because of the smell.
Most people don't want to live close to a freeway because of the noise.
Most people don't want to live close to a homeless shelter because of the degeneracy.

Of course these are generalizations and the context of each case is important. But let's be honest...the Alpha house doesn't do that street any favours in attracting developments with a focus of good urban design.

I can't really see a Rainforest cafe opening up next door.
 
Also, if it seemed like I was raving at those talking about moving Alpha House, I was really just raving generally at anyone who would consider moving one or both of the major shelters in the EV. Wasn't really considering Alpha House in my rant. However, talk of moving AH is all well and good, and someone suggested move it to "a place they can still get to"... so where is this place they can still get to... where it wont create havoc in a community or drop property values or whatever, and yet still be even remotely accessible? I can't think of a single place in the city, honestly. There's nowhere better suited than where it already is, if we are taking all considerations - plus the fact that it's already established there - into account.
Agreed it would be hard to find a place you could move it too without affecting other people. If I had a magic wand and could movie it anywhere, it might be one these locations. One of the problems with Alpha House, is the building itself. There isn't much room for people to hang out, so they tend to congregate out front or on the street or across the street. These parcels are bigger, and with a bigger lot they could have more space for clients to hang around and keep them off the street.
 
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First site is where platform is going, second site is being redeveloped, with the old building becoming a show room of some kind, and a bunch of the lot having footings on it.
 
Is Platform taking the whole lot? I thought just the east half of the empty space.
Platform is taking most of the space. There is a small parking lot (currently fenced off) belonging to the building on the right hand side, but the rest of the area will be taken by Platform. In the rendering there is a building between DEC and Platform, so it's possible there is space on each side of the Platform structure? If so the space would be owned by the city, and I guess potentially you could put the Alpha House there.
 
Not sure why the rendering shows a building to the left of Platform, but according to the DP, Platform will take up all of the remaining space.

Image6.jpg
 

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