A funding top-up from the federal government means Red Deer agencies working to end homelessness in the city will be able to continue their work until 2019, says the chair of the Community Housing Advisory Board (CHAB) , a body that advises council on matters related to housing and homelessness.

"Very good news," said Yvonne Peebles. “Without the additional funding ... programs that are already in place, they would have had to discontinue and that would … be very difficult for agencies who support our individuals in Red Deer with homelessness."

The City of Red Deer receives grants from both the federal and provincial governments. The federal grant is called the Housing Partnering Strategy (HPS). That grant is further divided into two streams: Designated Funding and Aboriginal Funding.

The federal government informed the city in June that it would receive another $149,788 for the Designated Funding Stream of the HPS grant, covering the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Yesterday, council endorsed CHAB's recommendations to allocate those funds to Central Alberta Women’s Outreach and the Bredin Centre for Learning.

"(It) helps them to continue the work that they're doing without disruption because it is really challenging when funding is lost or changes take place,” Peebles said.

“It really impacts people in the community. If they've been working with an agency to obtain housing ... it definitely takes away that momentum."

The Aboriginal Funding stream also received an additional $121,952. The city will consult the Aboriginal community on where that money will go in 2018-19.