By Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald on June 24, 2026.
Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Andrew Malcolm, City of Lethbridge’s general manager of community social development , spoke to media about the investments the city received for community safety and wellbeing on Tuesday at City Hall.
The City of Lethbridge announced they received a boost in funding thanks to investments from both the provincial and federal governments for local programming that focuses on community safety and well-being on Tuesday.
The City is dedicating most of the over $2.7 million combined funds received from both levels of government to high-risk youth prevention, while the remaining funds will go back into their integrated encampment response.
“What this is really about is … some momentum that’s building in Lethbridge and how we’re responding (to) some of the community’s most complex challenges in a more coordinated way,” said Andrew Malcolm, City of Lethbridge’s general manager of community social development to media on Tuesday morning.
“So what’s really important here is that we’re building off of programs that are already existing in our community and are increasingly being recognized across the country for the impact that they’re having. Those programs are efforts that connect people to resources, improve safety and focus on long-term outcomes rather then just the short-term fixes.”
The city will receive $800,000 per year over the next three years from the province for integrated encampment response.
“This is really building off of work that was originally established to create our Building Safer Communities team, which was Public Safety Canada or federal government funded,” explained Malcolm.
“And with that program funding ending in March of this year, the province saw the opportunity to step in and continue (to) provide funding so that we could keep on supporting those youth in our community that are dealing with those complex challenges.”
The City’s Encampment Strategy will receive some of those funds for services that could be expanded in the outreach and encampment response.
The feds, through the Reaching Home program, will invest over $228,000 to assist with encampment response outreach services that are linked.
“Everyone deserves a safe place to call home and the support they need to participate fully in their community,” says the Honourable Eleanor Olszewski, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan, in a release.
“By working with the City of Lethbridge and local partners, we are helping strengthen programs that respond to real community needs, support people facing housing challenges, and make public spaces safer, more welcoming, and more vibrant for everyone.”
The most notable impact is the city can increase the amount of resources for the programs.
“The biggest thing is that its allowing us to have more resources, so more people in positions,” said Malcolm.
“We run a pretty lean program here in Lethbridge with our Building Safer Communities team that work with high-risk youth as well as our encampment outreach. Which means that through summer months, in particular, when holidays and other things come into play, we wanna make sure that the programming and service delivery for the community is consistent.”
The City of Lethbridge is also getting a $100,000 investment for Provincial Homeless Supports & Housing Stability Data Stewardship.
“This continues the City’s role as data steward for local homeless supports and housing stability programs, helping improve data-informed decision making, coordination and accountability,” as read in the release.
The municipal property taxes did see any impacts from the external funding.
“These investments support the great work already happening in our city,” says Mayor Blaine Hyggen. “Our teams and community partners have been making meaningful progress, especially in prevention and coordinated response. This funding helps us continue that work with greater stability and focus.”
The investments were originally approved in March while agreement were being worked on and did not allow for details to be released at that time.
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