Support Services Wood Buffalo
FORT McMURRAY — Fort McMurray’s Support Services Wood Buffalo will close Dec. 31, 2025, ending more than two decades of work with vulnerable residents across the region.
Founded in 2002 as the Supportive Transitional Housing Team, the agency has helped hundreds of adults build life skills, navigate housing and stabilize incomes through a sobriety focused, wraparound model. Its staff have offered one on one planning, systems navigation and advocacy, and free tax clinics through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program.
The organization has connected people experiencing homelessness, poverty and other complex challenges to housing, mental health care, childcare, legal and educational services, employment supports and income assistance. It also supported reintegration and prevention through partnerships with the Drug Treatment Court and Pastew Place Detox Center, and contributed to The Tomorrow Project within the Wood Buffalo Seniors Subsector.
Executive director Nicole Stagg said the decision follows years of funding pressures that made continued operations unsustainable. She said the focus now is on an orderly transition for clients.
“Our priority is ensuring every client is supported and set up for success before the agency closes,” Stagg said. “We are working closely with individuals and partner organizations as needed to make this transition as smooth as possible.”
The agency says its model largely sat outside traditional funding streams, which complicated long term sustainability despite community recognitions that included a Minister’s Award of Merit. Current clients have been contacted and the team is coordinating warm handoffs to other providers before year end.
Community programming reached beyond direct casework. The agency’s annual tax clinics and life skills workshops on budgeting, emergency preparedness, goal setting and self care were used by many residents, while staff routinely helped clients access addiction recovery programs, income supports and mental health services.
Support Services Wood Buffalo’s closure will leave a gap in Fort McMurray’s social safety net. Stagg said the organization will continue to operate according to its mission, vision and values until Dec. 31, and will keep working with partners to minimize service disruption for the people it serves.
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