Safety and well-being plan offers action items for Steinbach

Steinbach’s community safety and well-being plan is nearing completion and city council was given a host of recommendations during a Zoom presentation at their strategic priorities committee meeting on Tuesday.

The Canadian Centre for Safer Communities, tasked with coming up with the plan alongside a local steering committee, shared their findings from surveys and other fact-finding missions.

Katie Cook, the director of operations and services for The Canadian Centre for Safer Communities, walked council through the process of the plan that is designed as a strategic framework to help guide and inform local decisions and actions to enhance safety and wellbeing.

Steinbach is one of 12 communities to receive provincial funding to develop a plan. The agreement will also see a one-time grant of $60,000 that the city will be able to use to implement some of the recommendations.

And the report is thorough, highlighting seven priorities in which are found 24 goals and 72 recommended actions.

Priorities include housing and homelessness, mental health and addiction, community safety and policing, access to services, community belonging and inclusion, children and youth, and transportation.

Mayor Earl Funk said the fact that council hosts monthly strategic priorities committee meetings allows them to hear from various non-profits, so they have a good idea of what the needs are.

“We do know what’s doing on in our city, so it’s not completely surprising,” he said.

He said many of the items are already being worked on, adding they aren’t intimidated by the number of recommended actions.

“It sounds like a lot,” he admitted. “But it can be done. It’s a working document. We don’t have to do everything right away. These are things we can build on.”

Funk referred to the housing and homelessness priority where he said action is happening with developers committed to the one percent down payment plan that is worked out with Steinbach Credit Union and the affordable housing that’s coming including a Main Street project that will see a building with 400 sq. ft. affordable studio apartments.

The report makes 10 recommendations on this topic for goals that include increasing the affordable housing supply, housing support, homelessness prevention and creating a shelter space, and emergency housing.

At this point council will take no action on the file, waiting for the final report to become available.

While many of the recommendations are things that can be done locally, some direct the city to advocate for funds and support from different levels of government.

“We’re working hard on relationships with the province and our federal government, and I see those relationships getting stronger and stronger,” he said. “I think that we’ll be able to very affectively advocate for the needs in our community.”

Funk said he’s thankful to the creators of the report, including all the local non-profits that are involved.

“I appreciate how hard everyone’s worked,” he said.