In First Days As Mayor, Michael Walters Will Take Immediate Action to Tackle Homelessness and Overdose Deaths

News Release

In First Days As Mayor, Michael Walters Will Take Immediate Action to Tackle Homelessness and Overdose Deaths

With over 5,000 homeless Edmontonians, and overdose deaths increasing dramatically, the status quo – including Councillors Knack and Cartmell – has failed to deliver meaningful action to tackle the biggest challenges in Edmonton.

In 2024, despite declaring homelessness an emergency, Councillor Andrew Knack introduced and supported a motion which recognized that homelessness, shelter operations, and addictions treatment are “the jurisdiction of the Government of Alberta.” Yet today, Knack is calling for the City to single-handedly take over those same responsibilities from the Province — a costly and dangerous reversal. Further, in 2024 Councillor Knack spoke out against city funding for overdose response teams, stating their work is the province’s problem – a position that has put lives at risk and hasn’t delivered solutions.

Councillor Cartmell for his part, despite being hand-picked to sit on the UCP’s Community Safety Task Force, has failed to deliver any meaningful action, or even one single day shelter space desperately needed in Edmonton.

If these two councillors think they are ready to step up on these issues on October 21, why didn’t they step up in the last four years?

Walters pledged to take immediate action in his first weeks as Mayor to deliver leadership on homelessness and overdose deaths where City Council has failed. In addition to delivering his plan to tackle homelessness, his first actions as Mayor would be to:

Immediately meet with the Premier to partner on delivering a day shelter strategy including 300 dedicated day shelter spaces (over and above night shelters) so vulnerable residents can be connected with services during the day; and
Scale the Crisis Response System by immediately moving to restore funding for overdose response teams at the first meeting of Council.
“Homelessness isn’t a left or right issue — it’s a life-or-death issue,” Walters said. “Edmonton needs a Mayor who can unite governments and get results, not play politics with people’s lives.”

With over 20 years’ experience working in the non-profit sector, Michael Walters is the only candidate with experience bringing together social service organizations, community leaders, and small businesses to tackle homelessness and poverty in Edmonton.