UCP Must require shelters outside of Edmonton: The Premier must tell regional mayors to stop sending their residents to Edmonton and start welcoming them back home.
New data from the City administration highlights that there are almost no shelters and an incredibly limited amount of affordable housing in the region outside of Edmonton. While the capital region has a combined population of close to 1.5 million, the 1.1 million Edmonton taxpayers are covering the region's costs.
As of January 2026, the City of Beaumont, Town of Devon, Fort Saskatchewan, City of Leduc, County of Leduc, Parkland County, City of St. Albert, Town of Stony Plain, Strathcona County, Morinville, and Sturgeon County all have zero emergency shelter beds or day spaces. Zero. For a combined population of a third of Edmonton. Zero.
When jobs are lost, addictions become insurmountable, a youth ages out of government care, or the home becomes unsafe, why are services not available in their home community? Why are vulnerable residents from other cities being brought into Edmonton while our services are strained and our waitlists are long?
Regional municipalities must meet the needs of their own residents. Mayor Knacks' first council motion was to put $1 million in local property taxes towards day shelter spaces. Has any other regional mayor shown the same leadership?
Setting aside the immense moral failure of any government to not care for the most vulnerable people in their communities, these regions are burdening Edmontonians with a much more costly social services network. From higher police, fire department, encampment, and security costs to privately borne costs (insurance, loss prevention etc), the continued concentration of poverty upon our provincial capital city cannot be sustained.
Charitably, the Federal and Provincial governments aren’t supporting small municipalities. I don't disagree.
Cynically, the region has deliberately fettered their responsibilities-- the Leduc shelter closure. In 2024, Leduc City council voted to close their shelter services with the express intent of sending those in need into Edmonton. In March this year, St. Albert kaiboshed a youth transitional housing facility, despite being told by their own staff that on any given day there were three to four St. Albert youth at an Edmonton youth shelter.
It is incredibly frustrating as an Edmontonian, knowing they make these decisions because of the spoken and unspoken practice of sending folks in need to Edmonton. The provincial UCP government continues to sit idly by, allowing Edmontonians to absorb all of the associated costs. In 2022, following two tragic murders in Chinatown, the UCP’s Justice Minister demanded a public safety plan from the city of Edmonton within two weeks. Where is the same Ministerial urgency for other cities?
That minister approved a plan to decentralize some services from Chinatown. However, this decentralization must extend beyond city limits. The Premier must ensure that new support facilities are funded, supported, and constructed in regional municipalities going forward until balance is restored and users can receive support in their community of origin.
How can you help? Edmonton champions, businesses, downtown advocates, and local leaders to speak up for Edmonton and tell the UCP that minimum service requirements must exist in all Alberta communities. Decentralization will be more compassionate, financially efficient, more accessible for service recipients, and allow Edmonton a better path to recovery. It is long past time for compassionate reunification of families and residents with meaningful supports and services in their home communities.
Michael Janz is a second term Edmonton City Councillor