NiGiNan Housing Ventures providing Indigenous led shelter and support centre

When the city of Edmonton experiences a cold stretch, some of the homeless population will have a warm place to sleep and three meals a day.

NiGiNan Housing Ventures has spent the last two years working on the former Sands Inn and Suites at Fort Road and Yellowhead Trail into a permanent housing centre, made by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people.

CEO Keri Cardinal Schulte joined the Windspeaker Radio Network to discuss the importance of having these types of services available in the city, especially for the cold winters.

‘Pimatisiwin’ will have 54 permanent housing suites for people labeled ‘hard to house’. The former hotel bar/restaurant has been transformed to fit 34 Indigenous-led emergency shelter spaces for people off the streets looking to get income support or new ID’s.

Cardinal-Shulte says there are 3,000 people on the street, the majority being Indigenous. She goes on to discuss the importance of having a shelter type location strictly dedicated towards the Indigenous community.

For more details on the new permanent housing location or about NiGiNan Housing Ventures you can visit their website.