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The Herb Jamieson Centre shut down on Dec. 31, 2019 and will soon be demolished to make way for a new shelter with room for 400 people.

The Hope Mission says the current building is old, unsafe and not wheelchair accessible. It was built in 1954.

New spaces have been opened up at the Hope Mission building to accommodate the clients during the rebuild.

Renderings of the proposed Herb Jamieson Centre redevelopment in Edmonton, July 26, 2017. Courtesy: City of Edmonton

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“Most of our adult shelters through the Hope Mission system — and one of their facilities, the Herb Jamieson, has recently closed — they are providing similar, almost the same capacity through existing facilities,” Homeward Trust CEO Susan McGee said on Tuesday while discussing Edmonton’s winter emergency response plan.

“They’ve moved bunk beds to their main shelter so they are able to house almost the same number of people but it is a change in our system so we’re going to have to really monitor that.”

The total cost of the project is $16 million. So far, $6.9 million has been raised by approximately 3,500 donors, and the provincial government committed another $8 million in the budget.

0:41 City of Edmonton’s director of housing and homelessness on extreme cold weather plans City of Edmonton’s director of housing and homelessness on extreme cold weather plans

“We’ve developed a plan to rebuild the Herb Jamieson Centre and we took that plan out to the community to raise support and we’ve seen tremendous support,” Joel Nikkel, the director of development for Hope Mission, said on Aug 23, 2018.

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“We’ve had a tremendous inflow of positive comments from all Edmontonians in support of rebuilding.”

The new building is expected to open in the fall of 2021.

Renderings of the proposed Herb Jamieson Centre redevelopment in Edmonton, July 26, 2017. Courtesy: City of Edmonton

1:25 Commonwealth rec centre doors may open to help those looking to escape the cold Commonwealth rec centre doors may open to help those looking to escape the cold