For more than 65 years, it has been a beacon of hope in our city, a refuge for those with nowhere to call home. At its height just a few years ago, the Calgary Drop-In Centre , also known as the DI, housed more than 1,000 of the city’s most vulnerable on a nightly basis.

These days, though, you’re likely to only find about 600 overnight clients using the building at the downtown’s eastern edge. While that may sound like a failure, in this day and age when affordable housing is hard to find, Sandra Clarkson sees the decline as a resounding success.

“At the DI, we are very much committed to doing this differently, resulting in better outcomes,” says Clarkson, the agency’s president and CEO. “We have reduced our chronic shelter stays by 85 per cent.” That has been accomplished, however, n

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