Individuals experiencing homelessness face significant barriers and limited access to showers, washrooms, and laundry services where they feel safe and dignified.

As people who work in the homeless serving sector, my colleagues and I started examining why some individuals experiencing homelessness were not accessing the existing hygiene services, and we found out access, transportation, and quality of the facilities were key barriers. Current hygiene services are only offered at select locations, such as emergency shelters. This creates a major barrier for those who are not clients of these agencies and who intentionally avoid them because of safety concerns, negative experiences, or circumstances like having a pet or many personal belongings.

A significant gap needed to be filled to promote the dignity and well-being of individuals in Calgary through low-barrier hygiene and wraparound services.

Our team came up with the idea of bringing mobile hygiene unit to Calgary streets. The idea of mobile hygiene services is modeled after LavaMaeX’s Shower Bus initiative in San Francisco. The portability of a mobile hygiene unit enables bringing services where they are needed in safe and dignified environments.

By improving personal hygiene, participants experience improved physical health and lower risk of infection, increased social inclusion, and decreased health inequities and stigma. Wraparound services through partnerships with existing community agencies also allow service users to access and learn about services tailored to their unique needs. This holistic approach empowers individuals by offering clean access to showers and laundry on top of their housing, employment, and healthcare needs. Moreover, partnering with organizations is beneficial in promoting services to individuals already utilizing services within these agencies.

We value treating everyone with radical hospitality, radical compassion, radical dignity, and radical acceptance, so RadiCalgary seemed like an obvious name for our project. Our immediate focus at this time is to initiate a pilot project to analyze tangible, positive outcomes for the homeless community and identify and navigate any unanticipated challenges. The project has seen some challenges with securing financial partnerships as the non-profit sector has been hit hard in the aftermath of COVID and lacks capacity and resources. But, we not giving up and will be pursuing incorporation to approach philanthropists and foundations around Calgary.

With the support of our dedicated team, stakeholders, and the community, we believe that RadiCalgary can make a difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness. We’re looking forward to taking RadiCalgary to the next level.