For years, Lloydminster has waited for a Costco.
At one point, I was told it was coming early in the decade. It took longer than expected, but now it’s finally happening. The southwest corner of the city is about to change in a big way.
But here’s the question worth asking.
What if that same development could help solve something far more urgent?
Because while we waited for Costco, the community has waited even longer for a real, coordinated solution to homelessness and addiction support.
There is a clear gap.
Not just in treatment, but in what comes after.
Transitional housing remains one of the biggest missing pieces. It is the space between getting help and staying on your feet. Without it, people who have done the work often end up right back where they started.
I know that feeling.
Near the end of treatment, there is nothing more stressful than not knowing if you have a place to go. Mine came together at the last moment. For many, it doesn’t. Around here, that outcome is far more common than it should be.
At the same time, every time a new support project is proposed, the pushback comes quickly.
Downtown businesses raise concerns about safety. Residents worry about proximity. We saw it in the northeast when the men’s shelter expanded services. We saw it again with recent discussions around locating supports in the core.
The concern that keeps coming up is security.
People do not feel safe with visible homelessness near where they live or work.
So here is a different approach.
If the southwest is being built from the ground up, why not plan for this from the start?
The area around 19 Street, 12 Street and 75 Avenue is essentially a blank slate. Outside of Costco, a Co-op car wash and future commercial development, there is room to think bigger.
What if a purpose-built transitional housing site was included in that plan?
Not an afterthought. Not squeezed into an existing neighbourhood. Designed properly from day one.
Other communities are already doing this.
In Bathurst, New Brunswick, a city with deep personal ties for me, a project is underway to build 30 tiny homes with on-site supports. The goal is simple. Give people stability, dignity and access to services in one place.
Lloydminster could do the same. The Costco area could be the catalyst.
A site with clear setbacks from schools and residential areas. Built-in access to social services, addiction support and outreach. A place where people who have chosen to get help can actually stay on that path.
Yes, it would be controversial.
NIMBY is alive and well here. If it goes into an established neighbourhood, the opposition will be loud and immediate. We have seen that time and time again.
But if it is placed in a new development area in and around Costco, where expectations are set from the beginning, the conversation changes.
Businesses moving in would know. Residents buying nearby would know. The city could plan it properly instead of reacting later.
Because the reality is this.
Encampments are already being pushed further to the edges of the city. People are still finding their way back to services, often with difficulty. The problem does not disappear. It just moves.
And leaving things as they are is not a solution.
If Lloydminster is willing to think big enough to bring in a Costco, it should be willing to think just as seriously about supporting its most vulnerable.
The land is there.
The need is there.
The question is whether the will is there.
Try shopping at the Superstore in Red Deer, this would mostly likely result in similar issues.
It is not so much of Costco helping as it is the area. That would get them out of the downtown area that is already struggling. If they do go downtown then we will loose a lot more businesses out of the core of our city. If they have a fenced area then the people there would be able to get outside to get fresh air and walk around like the Slim Thorpe does. I personally think it is a great idea to have it out there.
Foresight! Yes!