Edmonton business association opposes plan to turn Beverly Motel into transitional housing

Emily Williams · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

An aged motel successful Edmonton's Beverly neighbourhood, erstwhile known arsenic a occupation property, could go transitional lodging connected 118th Avenue — if it tin flooded the pushback.

Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA) received a licence to person the erstwhile Beverly Motel into a transitional lodging task with 17 units. Now, it faces an entreaty from the Beverly Business Association and indispensable spell to Edmonton's Subdivision and Development Appeal Board aboriginal this month.

In a missive to the SDAB, the concern relation said the task volition marque the thoroughfare little safe, little walkable and little charismatic to the nationalist and investors. 

"We powerfully consciousness that a supportive lodging task for persons escaping addiction volition straight and importantly harm the important enactment that our relation is undertaking to revitalize 118th Avenue," the missive says.

Converting the gathering into lodging besides bars the concern relation from collecting a levy from the property, the missive said.

"It stems much from fearfulness than facts," Blake Jackman, NCSA's manager of housing, told CBC News.

Jackman described the entreaty arsenic unfortunate. The country has a batch of Indigenous radical experiencing homelessness, helium said, and the NCSA has been successful talks with the concern relation astir the task since its aboriginal stages.

"It's betwixt radical remaining unhoused successful their assemblage and their alleys, successful their parks, successful their streets, or surviving safely successful a supportive, recovery-oriented and professionally-managed situation until they tin unafraid imperishable housing," helium said.

The erstwhile motel has been recently renovated and the NCSA plans to tally an abstinence-based programme that allows radical to enactment for up to six months. The task received backing from the national and provincial governments.

The NCSA, which operates different transitional and supportive lodging successful Edmonton, has a way grounds of being bully assemblage members, Jackman said.

"I cognize immoderate neighbourhoods bash consciousness similar they're taking connected much of the load than different neighbourhoods are — and I'm not saying that's untrue," helium said.

"But we bash judge that the Beverly assemblage is successful request of services to enactment them, with the encampments they have."

In a connection to CBC News, Beverly Business Association enforcement director Alex Bosker said the enactment would similar to spot the task spell elsewhere.

"Our committee feels our concern territory is not the due determination for specified a project, and that it would beryllium much suitable to unfastened their programme extracurricular of a specially levied concern area," Bosker said.

Beverly nonmigratory Chani Sunley said the erstwhile motel was "an eyesore" erstwhile she archetypal moved into the area. But from she has heard, the lodging task would greatly amended the motel site.

Homeless radical are surviving successful the neighbourhood, and Sunley would alternatively spot them surviving nether a roof, with entree to support, she said.

"Right now, it's truthful hard, due to the fact that wherever bash radical go? You conscionable shuffle them along," she said. "We know that's what's happening."

The Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, an autarkic municipal tribunal, will see the concern association's entreaty astatine a proceeding connected July 24.