The MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is giving his thoughts on the closure of Marshall House.
Wood Buffalo Housing announced on Friday the emergency homeless shelter will stop serving clients early next year – due to a lack of funding from the province.
WBH says they were notified by the Government of Alberta that they would no longer receive funds based on the fact they haven’t been operating at full capacity over the past few years.
MLA Tany Yao tells Mix News this decision was a fiscal one that had to be made.
“The fact remains we’re in a fiscally precarious position as a province and we need to make sure we’re financially stable so that we can provide said services, not pay interest on things like we currently are.”
Nine full-time staff will be affected by the decision.
Yao says the community will still have resources that are there to help the most vulnerable in the community.
He notes at this time, the province is simply losing too much money to justify leaving the shelter open.
“The amount of interest we pay, we could build a school every month. So, we certainly want to make sure we are fiscally responsible so we can provide these services that so many people desire.”
Mix News reached out to Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche MLA Laila Goodridge but did not receive a response.
Marshall House will officially close its doors January 31, 2020.