houselessness

As winter approached in December 2023, the Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society extended the operating hours of their Community Outreach Transit Team (COTT) to 3 a.m. to meet the growing needs of the unhoused community in Edmonton. To date, the organization has seen significant community response with the change.

At a city council meeting March 13, Robbie Kaboni, supervisor of COTT’s outreach workers, said that quarter 4 of 2023 saw 1,922 COTT interactions, with 44 per cent of these individuals reaching out to other services through COTT. In January 2024 alone, with the new extended hours, there were 1,117 interactions with 48 per cent of the individuals reaching out to other services.

Kaboni also reported that peak interactions in the past months were between 10 p.m.-3 a.m. after the extended hours were implemented.

In partnership with the City of Edmonton, Bent Arrow launched COTT in 2021 to help vulnerable people in transit centers get connected to the supports they need.