The City of Lethbridge has locked in more than $2.7 million in fresh provincial and federal funding to keep local youth prevention and homelessness outreach programs running strong. Announced on June 23, 2026, the cash injection requires no extra dollars from municipal property taxes, city officials confirmed.
Most of the money is earmarked for programs that steer high-risk young people away from trouble. A big slice will keep the Off The Record program alive. That initiative uses sports and informal hangouts to build trust between youth and first responders, including the Lethbridge Police Service.
The province is kicking in the lion’s share—$800,000 a year for three years, totaling $2.4 million—through its Provincial Integrated Encampment Response funding. The federal government is adding $228,411 from the Reaching Home program to boost outreach services tied to encampment response. The city also landed an extra $100,000 in provincial data stewardship money to keep tracking homelessness numbers locally.
Andrew Malcolm, General Manager of Community Social Development at the City of Lethbridge, said the funding allows the city to put more resources into outreach teams and maintain consistent programming year-round. The provincial cash effectively replaces a federal Building Safer Communities Fund grant that was set to dry up on March 31, 2026.
The funding arrives as Lethbridge sees early results from its Encampment Strategy, launched in May/June 2023. The city recorded its first drop in homelessness in a decade during the October 2025 Point-In-Time Count, with 504 people identified—a 3% decrease from the previous year. Since the transition to in-house outreach services, the city has logged a 263% jump in outreach intakes and a 318% rise in referrals.
“What’s really important here is that we’re building off of programs that are already existing in our community,” Malcolm said.
