The Soaring Eagle Support Society (SESS) is seeking donations and other support for its residents following the rejection of its rezoning application by the Town of Whitecourt.
Late last year and early this year, the SESS entered into discussions with the town to make changes to its location at 3515 Caxton Street, at which point the town said it determined the organization’s operations did not comply with the Hilltop Commercial (C-7) zoning for that parcel.
In an effort to address the issue, the organization submitted an application to have the property rezoned to a new Direct Control Supportive Living (D-CS) zone. An information session and public hearing followed before council voted to reject the application during its regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 18.
As a result, a stop order has been issued to the SESS, requiring its operations to cease and its 24 residents to vacate by 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 30.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t have leadership support,” SESS Executive Director Cindy Gurney commented on the decision.
“It’s hard for a lot of people to move who don’t have challenges, but everyone in this house has challenges,” she added. “Everyone is under severe poverty, so they don’t have time to save up, and they only have one new month to move into somewhere new.”
Gurney anticipates the organization will appeal the timeline of the stop order to try to secure more time for residents to arrange accommodations.
In the meantime, Gurney asks the community to support the SESS clients by sending encouraging notes, cards and emails, or donating meals and gift cards. Donations for housing start-up kits will also be accepted, such as kitchen tools and dishes, cleaning supplies, bedding sets, garbage bags, light bulbs, toilet paper and toiletries. Any financial donations will be distributed to SESS residents for damage deposits and other upcoming costs associated with their moves.
The Soaring Eagle Support Society has been operating at its current location, a former motel, for about five years. When it began, 15 homeless community members moved in. The organization continued to increase its resident capacity until 2024, when it capped capacity at 31 residents.
Operating as a “Motel Mini Village Model,” Gurney explained, the facility includes private 200-square-foot rooms for each resident, as well as a community kitchen, laundry, media room, serenity room, physical wellness room and meeting rooms. An outdoor area also includes a fire pit, picnic tables and swings.
“There’s just places for them to have that village. That’s why we call it a village, because they have these different rooms, different public spaces that they get to use, which is like a stepping stone again towards using services in the regular community, in the broader community.”
Pointing to the success of the organization’s efforts, Gurney said 46 per cent of SESS residents have transitioned or are transitioning into regular market housing, and 16 per cent are reuniting with family.
She said part of that success is due to their location, adding that more municipalities are beginning to look at repurposing motels for this kind of operation.
Although Gurney said the current location was ideal, the Town of Whitecourt did not find a residential use to be suitable for the parcel.
“Infrastructure associated with those types of uses, such as sidewalks, amenities, park spaces, have not been provided,” explained Jennine Loberg, director of planning and development for the Town of Whitecourt. “You also have the area already developed out with highway commercial establishments.”
Those establishments, Loberg added, often come with large truck traffic, extended operating hours and overnight lighting.
“They’re not really set up to support the typical privacy desired for these types of residential uses, and a lot of the activities can actually pose a nuisance to the residential or institutional type use that Soaring Eagle was trying to have supported there,” she said.
For Soaring Eagle clients, Gurney said those factors aren’t a barrier.
“Those are just not real issues for someone who’s going from homelessness to getting settled into a home again and restoring their life,” Gurney commented. “People here are very grateful for the 200 square feet that they get.”
Loberg explained that from a planning and development perspective, the town needed to consider the long-term future of the site, regardless of who currently owns and operates at it.
“When it comes to the land use planning aspect, we really have to focus on the physical activity, or the use of a property, rather than the people or group that’s there today — not just to ensure fairness and prevent discrimination, but also to manage community growth logically,” she said.
The town also does not have any say in the potential transfer of ownership or lease agreements at this site, so the zoning needed today might not be suitable for uses, Loberg continued. This would also be an example of “pocket zoning,” which she said can “disrupt the planning framework for an area,” by introducing inconsistencies.
She adds that Whitecourt has other land use districts that are designed to accommodate operations like those of the SESS.
For a small organization like theirs, Gurney said moving locations or constructing a new one is not a likely outcome, but the SESS board will meet next week to discuss the organization’s future.
An update on the future of the organization will be provided when available.
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