Some Triwood residents leery of at-risk youth housing

Hundreds of people packed into a community hall in northwest Calgary on Thursday night to learn more about young people at risk of being homeless who are moving into their neighbourhood.

McMan Youth and Family Community Services has bought an apartment complex at Northmount Drive and 19th Street NW and plans to provide affordable housing for 24 young men and women deemed at risk.

Some residents of Triwood are afraid the youth aged 18 to 24 will cause trouble.Resident Al Kormos said there's no way to guarantee they won't cause problems.

"These are kids who are troubled or who come from troubled pasts," said Kormos."They're going to put them all in one building together with really no supervision.

"They're just going to kind of be left on their own.And as a community member I see that as just dumping off the problems, somebody's else's problems onto this community."

But Dana Pearce,head of McMan Youth and Family Community Services, said the youngpeople have proven they're responsible anddon't need round-the-clock supervision.

She said the tenants will be monitored by the resident manager and by individual social workers who will drop by regularly to do spot checks.

"What they need is a safe and healthy place to live, so that they can pursue their goals of education and work," Pearce said.

She said the young people are at risk of being homeless, not criminals.