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After identifying a gap in winter warming services for women, Saskatoon city council authorized the location of a new drop-in centre on Nov. 5–and it’s set to open in just two days.
The temporary centre will occupy the old bus depot building at 50 23rd Street East, beside the temporary emergency shelter on Pacific Avenue.
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This centre will operate for roughly four to eight weeks, filling in the span of time between now and when the permanent warming space at 325 Avenue C South opens, following its renovations.
At the start, the temporary site will run from 6 p.m. until 8 a.m. before transitioning into a 24/7 service.
Without this service, there would be no drop-in options available for women during those weeks, since the overnight centre at St. Mary’s Parish only accepts men.
The City of Saskatoon estimated the cost of doing all the necessary renovations for the 23rd Street centre to operate all winter would cost more than $500,000.
But, by using it for only a few weeks, the costs of fixing the place lowered to between $50,000-$75,000. That money will go towards making the building usable, like providing washrooms, fencing, lighting, fire extinguishers and emergency exits.
The money for these renovations will come out of the city’s pocket, primarily out of the remaining funds in the capital project Winter Navigation and Warming Centres. Going over budget could impact property taxes.
Even though the plan is for the centre to open on Nov. 7, city council didn’t know that was going to happen until this week. That’s because city administration only decided to move forward with the 23rd Street location on Monday.
According to Celene Anger, the General Manager of Community Services, it was a last-minute decision. Anger explained to councillors during a special meeting that there were initially two options for providing winter warming for only women.
But, by Oct. 29, they’d both fallen through, giving administration only a few days to find somewhere new.
“There are not a lot of options. No one necessarily wants to provide their facility for a use such as this,” Anger said about the reasoning for the 23rd Street location, adding how the city is trying to open the centre as quickly as possible because temperatures are dropping.
Councillor Robert Pearce expressed his frustrations during a special meeting on Nov. 5, saying how the city is always trying to arrange cold weather centres at the last minute. “I can’t help but feel the way we do this is the definition of insanity. We keep doing the same thing every year,” he said. (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)
The Government of Saskatchewan will pay the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) to operate the warming centre, causing concern for Shawna Nelson from the Downtown Saskatoon Business Improvement District.
In a letter written to council, Nelson shared how STC’s former emergency centre on 1st Avenue, “struggled with inadequate security and management, resulting in significant disruption.” While Nelson wrote how the emergency shelter on Pacific Avenue hasn’t caused the same sort of disruption, that service is run by the Mustard Seed, not STC.
City councillors in a difficult position
Councillors expressed their frustrations during the special meeting on Nov. 5, with Councillor Bev Dubois saying that work on this new location is already underway.
“It’s all a done deal,” she said, adding how renovations started before council had a chance to vote.
“Obviously, I can’t vote against this. I’m not going to have people freeze to death or die. I’m not going to do that, but the whole process I’m not happy with,” Dubois said.
Councillor Robert Pearce also expressed his frustrations, saying how city administration had assured council there wouldn’t be any need to scramble for cold-weather shelters this year, which has been a problem in the past.
But he said that wasn’t the case.
“Now I’m going to vote for this because I don’t want people to die this winter. I have a gun to my head if I vote against it, I’m the heartless person who wants women to die. If I vote for it, I’m fulfilling this insanity that we keep doing every year. It needs to end,” Pearce said.
