By Harrison M. Clark, Councillor, Ward 9

I want to start by thanking former city councillor Courtney Walcott for his piece on Monday’s Home Space decision, and for the years of work he has put into housing in this city.

He is right that Calgary has no 24-hour care option for the roughly 250 people the Calgary Homeless Foundation counts as high-complexity. He is right that finding a site took two and a half years of serious effort. And he is right that I voted to delay.

The reasons for my vote belong to the people I represent.

As the councillor for the East Calgary and International Avenue neighbourhoods, including Forest Lawn, Dover, Southview, Albert Park and Radisson Heights, I have been asked for help again and again. Residents are telling me about social disorder on their blocks, a loss of their sense of safety, and situations that are more complex than anything they have dealt with before.

I saw it firsthand this fall, riding along with front-line officers on International Avenue, and I hear it every month at the community safety table hosted by 12 Community Safety Initiative (12CSI). Responding directly to that call is the first part of my job.

As Calgary works to remedy these exact problems downtown, the reality is that they are migrating east to International Avenue and spilling into what are otherwise inner-city residential neighbourhoods. The City’s transit disorder dashboard shows a 57 per cent increase in Ward 9 from September 2025 to September 2026. Over the same period, Calgary Fire Department overdose responses in the ward rose 93 per cent.

The International Ave Business Improvement Area’s safety team has recently identified 60 ‘new’ people in the area who are not familiar to them.

Downtown is getting focused attention, and it should. But these challenges don’t disappear when they are moved along. They land somewhere, and right now they are landing with us.

Meaningful response to crime and disorder is needed

I agree that the facility Home Space brought forward is new and unlike anything else in Calgary. Some will say that alone should have earned my support. I understand that, and I took it seriously. Two things weighed on me.

First, we have not yet begun to respond in any meaningful way to the increased crime and disorder these neighbourhoods are experiencing. While residents are still waiting for that response, I have a hard time asking them to trust me that this time will be different. Trust is built by showing up first.

Second, these communities have said yes, again and again. Local data from 12CSI suggests our neighbourhoods have welcomed more than 30 organizations and program providers over the last couple of decades. We are proud of that. Many of those organizations do extraordinary work; our neighbours volunteer right alongside them, and the people they serve are our neighbours too.

But after more than 30 yeses, it is more than fair to ask the rest of the city to step up now and help shoulder this responsibility. I’ll say that plainly on behalf of these neighbourhoods.

Mr. Walcott wrote that council could have supported one facility per quadrant. On that point, he and I are closer than Monday’s vote might suggest. If Calgary needs four of these facilities to serve 250 people, then let’s plan for four, distributed across the city, and let’s build the first one where the load hasn’t already been carried for decades.

I will be at the table for that work, and I want Home Space and the site’s proposed operator, The Alex Community Health Centre, to succeed.

There is one more thing I want Calgarians to hear.

For a long time, these communities have lived under an unfair stereotype. It is part of how so much ended up concentrated here in the first place: a quiet assumption that east of Deerfoot is the ‘appropriate’ place for it.

Mr. Walcott named that pattern himself, and he was right to. Underneath the weight of that perception are vibrant neighbourhoods with deep ties between neighbours, a strong culture of volunteerism, and genuine care for one another, including for the most vulnerable people who live among them.

These neighbourhoods have practiced compassion for decades. What they are asking for now is partnership: A city that responds to what is happening on their streets, and every part of Calgary carrying its share.

I am proud to make that case for them.

Harrison Clark
Councillor, Ward 9
City of Calgary