Terwillegar Proposal Press Release In 2011 the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton signed an interfaith statement on homelessness and affordable

housing. We committed ourselves to work together with the Cit of Edmonton!s 10"#ear $lan to End %omelessness. We committed to work with communit agencies and &artners to do whatever we could to ensure that ever one has a &lace to call home. As a church our faith com&els us to stand in solidarit with those who are &oor and vulnerable' and affirm the im&ortance of inclusive and welcoming communities where individuals and families can thrive. We are blessed to own a &iece of land in (erwillegar that is alread )oned for the &ur&ose of multi unit housing and we intend to make use of that land for a &ro*ect that su&&orts Edmonton!s 10" ear &lan. An such develo&ment needs to be grounded in relationshi&s between the church' the communit and the develo&er or service &rovider so that we can find the best &ro*ect for a &articular communit . (he best &ro*ect is one that can be the most successful for all &eo&le in the communit ' those who currentl live there and those to come. As man &eo&le know' we have been in discussions with %omeward (rust and +as&er $lace %ealth and Wellness ,+$%W-. (he communit and &ublic engagement &rocess for the +$%W &ro*ect has been flawed. (here has been a great deal of miscommunication' lobb ing and bull ing. (hese things caught our attention and distracted us from the legitimate .uestions being raised. We have listened to &ro&onents and o&&onents of the &ro*ect. We are well aware that the e/treme res&onses of some residents are *ust that' e/treme res&onses' and that there are man residents in (erwillegar who would like to work with the church on su&&orting the Cit !s 10 ear &lan. We have been ver im&ressed b the numbers of &eo&le who have been researching homelessness and sharing with us what the are reading and learning. (o be sure' there will alwa s be &eo&le who sa 01ot In 2 3ack ard!' but not all the reaction to the &ro*ect can be dismissed as 01I23#I42!. We have now com&leted our due diligence on the &ro&osal and we do not believe that it has the chance of succeeding in its current form. We have concluded that we can not go forward with this &articular &ro*ect at the &resent time. Whatever the merits of the &ro*ect might be' it is now irrevocabl tainted in the minds of the local communit . We intend to start afresh. We are committed to using our &ro&ert as &art of our contribution to solving the &roblem of homelessness in Edmonton. We are activel seeking an a&&ro&riate &ro*ect for this land that both the church and the communit can get behind. As a Diocese we have learned a lot about how to communicate more effectivel . (his was one of the first &ro&osed develo&ments of this si)e and sco&e in a suburban area. We are conscious of the fact that the church' %omeward (rust and other funders' and &roviders such as +$%W' now have an o&&ortunit to review the &rocess and think about what best &ractices could look like. In this wa we can work together to make the Cit !s &lan a realit . 5ver the last 6 ears 2'728 &eo&le who were &reviousl homeless have been housed and 9:; of them remain successfull housed. If this &lan is to succeed it will need all of us to su&&ort it. And when it succeeds it is something of which ever Edmontonian should be &roud. 4omething we should celebrate with our children' our grandchildren and our communities. <t. <ev. +ane Ale/ander 3isho&' Anglican Diocese of Edmonton