Carl DeLine

Men’s hostel operation handed to Sally Ann

Published in Newspaper Articles. Tags: , .

The Single Men’s Hostel will be run by the Salvation Army next year at a cheaper cost and perhaps more proficiently, Social Services Connie Osterman announced Friday.

The 238-bed provincial hostel will have fewer beds when operated by the Army. In January, 1989, it will have 134 beds for transient men and 28 private rooms for working men.

The hostel currently serves about 125 single men a night, compared to an average of 140 last year.

Under the new hostel, patrons will be asked to pay $4.50 for their nightly stay and will be turned away if they are intoxicated, said Army spokesman Maj. Carson James.

“There will be a charge, but not if the person can’t afford it,” he added.

Intoxicated patrons will be sent to a detox centre or stay overnight in the Calgary Remand Centre’s holding cell, James said.

Osterman says the province will maintain ownership, but contract the hostel’s operation to the Army. She said those who turn down assistance because of government involvement may appreciate the hostel better when run by the less-bureaucratic Army.

She also noted that hostel operations run by the Army should cost less than its current $849,000 annual figures. “But our budget in terms of dedication to the hard-to-house and to people who need this kind of relief will not change,” she added.

Carl DeLine, who heads the Back Door, a project aimed at employing young street people, welcomed the change.

Criticizing the hostel as “a breeding ground for criminals,” he said, “Just about anything is better than the way it is now.”

Some street people who have bedded down at the hostel support DeLine’s criticisms, with some complaining in interviews that men staying there are commonly beaten and robbed.

“People who are staying there get everything they own stolen,” said Terry Grant, who stayed at the hostel for more than a month this summer.

Grant, 19, said he witnessed several men beaten at the hostel he calls “unsanitary.”

“Sometimes the dorm smells of vomit and urine,” he said.

Social Services spokesman Bob Scott said his department wasn’t aware of violence at the hostel.

Of 18 police calls at the hostel this year, 16 were theft-related and two related to violence.

“I’m sure a lot of things are unreported,” said Sgt. Jim McCaw, adding police regularly serve warrants to hostel residents, mostly transients.


Originally published September 10, 1988 by the Calgary Herald (Calgary, AB), credited to Bob Bergen.