Murray Wood: Who's scary... and who's scary good?
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According to Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark, big shelters are not the long-term solution to the city’s homeless issue.
Clark spoke to CKOM about the recent safety concerns expressed by residents in Fairhaven after the opening of the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s 106-bed Emergency Wellness Centre (EWC).
(Libby Giesbrecht/650 CKOM)
“We know it’s under a tremendous amount of pressure,” Clark said.
“The wellness centre, right now, is meeting a big demand, and even when you talk to tribal chiefs and staff there they say it would be better to have not one big centre, but smaller centres.”
Clark said he’s very aware of the concerns coming from that neighbourhood.
Instead of one large facility, Clark said he would prefer to see smaller housing facilities spread across the city to assist people with issues like homelessness, addictions and poor mental health.
“What we need is supported housing spread out in different neighbourhoods, where people can live in apartment and have the right supports in place to maintain that housing,” Clark said.
“This requires fixing the gaps in the continuum of care that are there right now.”
Clark said discussions on long-term solutions are ongoing with both the provincial government and tribal council.
City Councillor David Kirton, who supported the facility in his ward when it first opened in December, said in a letter to a Fairhaven resident that he has since come to the conclusion that the centre in its current form is “not sustainable” in any neighbourhood in the city.
Kirton said he’s not blaming the Saskatoon Tribal Council, as those working at the EWC are doing so under intense pressure.
“There are so many more people than they had agreed to,” he said, adding that staff at the EWC often have to deal with dozens of clients who have specialized needs.
“It has been determined that there are approximately 100 people on Saskatoon’s streets who have such complex needs and as a result, cannot get a bed inside a shelter, whether it is the EWC or the Salvation Army, or are getting kicked out of these shelters,” Kirton said in an email addressed to a Fairhaven resident.
“I am hoping to see a letter-writing campaign begin soon, asking the provincial government to fund beds for these 100 people with complex needs.”
Kirton said police and firefighters have developed a co-ordinated community safety plan for Fairhaven, which includes increased police patrols as well as work with community partners to improve the cleanliness in nearby parks, tunnels, and streets.
While Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief agrees in part with Clark’s view- he says he doesn’t consider the EWC to be “big,” but rather manageable.
“When you have the proper staff and the proper ratio of staff to relatives. So, we’re at a 1:5 ratio basically per shift, so it’s really manageable,” he said.
Arcand also agreed that there should be other, smaller shelter throughout the rest of Saskatoon -perhaps some for people with complex needs, families or other groups.
He’s been in talks with the provincial government, but said he hasn’t looked at any other properties.
“We want to maintain the current EWC and focus on it as a wellness centre. The whole purpose is to try to get people well and healthy,” he explained.
As for whether the centre is viable in its current form, Arcand believes it is.
“This facility we’re running is sustainable when you have it properly funded, properly supported and I think we’ve shown that in the past year in the half from our old facility to this (Fairhaven) facility.”
Arcand said at the end of the day STC staff know their strengths, whether it’s de-escalating situations, supporting elders, or communicating with people who have complex needs.
“Could it always improve? Absolutely. I don’t think we can fix it in one day.”
He said overall it’s a day by day, and stage by stage process.
–With files from Mia Holowaychuk and Lara Fominoff
