Saskatoon working to find permanent shelter location as calls for provincial action grow louder

WATCH: Saskatoon councillors got an update on the long search for a location for a permanent 60-bed homeless shelter.

More than 18 months after the province announced a new plan for homelessness and addictions, Saskatoon has yet to finalize a location for a permanent shelter site.

The city’s governance and priorities committee met Wednesday where a report updating shelter statuses in the city was presented, and the focus quickly turned to the province, which is the branch of the government responsible for social welfare and healthcare.

“If the province is responsible for sheltering, social services, mental health, addictions and healthcare, whose job is it right now to make sure people have a place to go?” Mayor Cynthia Block asked.

On October 6, 2023, the province announced an action plan for mental health and addictions to create 500 new addictions treatment spaces. As part of that action plan, the province tasked municipalities with choosing shelter locations even though operations and capital will be funded by the province. Since that announcement, the province opened a 15-bed complex needs emergency shelter on Idylwyld Drive last year, in addition to a 40-bed enhanced shelter on Pacific Avenue that opened last week.

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Both are intended to be temporary as the search for a permanent site continues.

“The city stepped in to take a very active co-ordinating role, but not so far as to step into the social services lane,” city manager Jeff Jorgenson said.

“The problem is growing faster than we can implement solutions is how it’s felt these past few years. ”

A recent point in time count of Saskatoon’s homeless population last October found 1,499 people living without permanent shelter in Saskatoon. That same count in 2022 identified 550 people.

Over the course of Wednesday’s committee meeting, councillors showed frustration with the lack of progress made since the action plan was announced.

“Is it possible that we need to tell the province the amount of money that they allocated isn’t reasonable for what we’re trying to accomplish?” Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer asked.

“We need to advocate the province to step up and do the job once and for all and get the right investments in place,” Ward 3 Coun. Robert Pearce said.

Administration told councillors hundreds of potential sites have been examined, considered and brought forward. Nearly all of them have been excluded because of costs to renovate existing buildings, the criteria for selection as approved by council — like any shelter being at least 250 metres away from any elementary school, and Saskatoon’s lack of abandoned buildings to work with.

As calls for urgent help grow louder, the ministry of social services is telling CTV News the new 60-bed permanent shelter will add only 20 spaces to Saskatoon’s shelter capacity after the Pacific Avenue shelter opened.

“Forty of those spaces are currently operationalized at the temporary shelter location that opened earlier this month,” the statement said.

The search for a location has been narrowed down to two sites. Jorgenson wouldn’t say if the province plans to renovate an existing building or build brand new, but he did say “they have a very good understanding of what they intend to build on that site.”

Block raised a motion to work with the province on other options for homeless residents to be safe at all hours of the day as the wait for a new shelter continues.

“I just don’t think that this is the formula that works anymore. As we continue to see more and more people that are unhoused,” Block said.

The city expects the site for a permanent shelter to be finalized and endorsed in the next eight weeks.