Province announces $3.5M in funding for downtown Emergency Wellness Centre

Saskatoon’s downtown Emergency Wellness Centre, which opened its doors in December, got a big financial boost from the provincial government Thursday.

At a news conference at the Dakota Dunes conference centre, Social Services Minister Lori Carr announced $3.5 million in funding for the centre over the next year, adding it has been in the works for a while.

“It is a one-year funding agreement … We’ll evaluate what happens at the end of that and see where we go,” she said.

Carr had an opportunity to visit the shelter over the last four months, and was impressed by what she saw.

“(Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand) has shown that he has the ability to work with those individuals and to have that holistic plan with those wraparound services, which is going to continue in the new facility that he will be moving forward with,” she said.

The wellness centre, on First Avenue North, opened with 50 beds to try and deal with those who were stuck out in the cold weather, and to try and alleviate a growing homelessness issue in Saskatoon. It soon expanded to 75 beds, with an additional area for families.

Arcand said Thursday the centre has all of the services to address clients’ needs, but not the space — and the demand is huge.

“Each night, if you drive by there, you’re probably seeing 12 to 20 people sitting outside in blankets wanting to get in. We just don’t have the space,” he said.

City of Saskatoon bylaw

The original agreement had the wellness centre open until the end of April. However, the City of Saskatoon has granted a lease extension until June 15.

Now, Arcand said he’s hoping that extension can be extended again until April 2023.

“We’ve already mentioned to the city that we want to change the bylaw under the ‘Special Circumstance’ because when we asked the city to create a bylaw for the six-month extension, we followed those rules and regulations … (City officials) are currently looking at the bylaw change to move forward, but that’s in their hands,” he added.

Mayor Charlie Clark said it’s something council will definitely consider, but it also needs discussion and debate likely later this month or in June.

“What we have with this announcement by the province … is a clear commitment to ensure that there’s a longer-term plan and a very rapid move towards creating a more permanent facility,” Clark said.

“I would suggest that having this clarity from the province is a very important step to help give city council and the neighbours and the community an understanding of how this can be managed in order to have a permanent solution.”

Future shelter locations

Arcand said realtors are reaching out to the owners of one property on 20th Street West to try and negotiate a purchase price. But the STC doesn’t have millions of dollars to renovate a building, so it’s in talks with the various levels of government for additional support.

“We’re hoping we can get there,” Arcand said. “There is an investor who is talking about leasing us the space when it gets built. But they’re building it to our specifications if they can purchase it. We’re allowing that process to happen.”

That’s not the only location that the STC is considering. In the future, Arcand is hoping there will be multiple shelter locations across Saskatoon.

“I think in our city there should be one (shelter) in every ward, because it’s going to be about fairness,” he said. “Whether it’s a big building or small building, it’s going to be fair because people always say, ‘Not in my backyard.’ Well, who has the back yard?”

Arcand said the STC is hoping to take over running all shelters in Saskatoon. He said he doesn’t have any relationship with The Lighthouse — currently the largest homeless shelter and supported living facility in Saskatoon — nor has anyone at The Lighthouse reached out to him.

“I want to take over the shelter business for our people (and) for all people (in Saskatoon),” he said. “I’m stating it publicly, I’m not hiding away from it because I think when you see the Province of Saskatchewan’s standing beside us saying, ‘We’ve made a significant investment,’ that should tell the public something.

“We are doing things right. The province appreciates it. They support it. That’s why the major investment of $3.5 million is there … I just can’t do it tomorrow, but we are going to get there.”

So far, Arcand said 81 people have been hired for the downtown wellness shelter, which runs 24 hours a day seven days per week.