Fort St. John, B.C. – The City of Fort St. John is celebrating the opening of a new shelter today.

It's been opened by the Salvation Army which mayor Lori Ackerman says will offer 64 shelter and transitional beds for individuals who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

"It's been needed for a while – the Salvation Army has done a tremendous job over the years of providing this service and this is an expansion of the services that they provide."

She also says it's needed because the economy there is booming.

"When any economy is increasing like ours is, there's always going to be an increase in the number of vulnerable population because they just go hand in hand."

Ackerman says that makes the new shelter even more important.

"I see the greatest expansion here is being the transitional beds which provides a safe place for those who suffer from addictions – to be able to come back to the community and have a safe environment in which to operate from."

She admits the booming economy has created affordability concerns for about 20% of the population but notes they're working on addressing that.

"The city is working with our development guidelines to create affordable housing. We have also submitted an application for boundary extensions which over the long term will provide a better supply of homes."

She adds, "We've also looked to Fort McMurray to see how they've dealt with their booming population and are encouraging new families moving here to rent out their basement suites."

Ackerman says they have been planning in earnest for current and future infrastructure needs and the numbers explain why pointing out this year to date construction values are up over $40 million dollars ($90 million) the end of July compared to $56 million at this time last year.