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While groups like the Salvation Army’s Crossroads Residential Services and the Saskatoon Tribal Council are in support of city council relocating a drop-in centre located on Avenue C, the Downtown Saskatoon Business Improvement District (BID) is opposed to the new location.
In a statement, The Downtown BID said the proposed site on Idylwyld does not meet the city’s own criteria for the drop in centre, cited “disproportionate risk” being brought to Saskatoon’s downtown core and decried a lack of transparency and due diligence through the process and communication by the city about the relocation.
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While the BID “recognizes the urgent need for co-ordinated, compassionate support for Saskatoon’s unhoused population and values evidence-based approaches that improve safety, dignity, and wellbeing,” the group expressed “significant concerns” and said solutions have to align with the city’s planning frameworks and “safeguard the long-term sustainability of our economic and cultural core,” according to the statement.
“We as an organization, definitely, we understand that there has to be compassion when it comes to making these decisions,” said Downtown Saskatoon BID executive director, Shawna Nelson. “But there also has to be good planning, and there has to be due diligence, and they must go hand in hand.
“We feel that this hasn’t happened.”
In an interview, Nelson said she was surprised when she heard a new location for the drop-in centre had been selected, as she wasn’t aware the city was seeking a relocation for the centre.
Location inconsistent with city criteria
Referencing the City of Saskatoon’s criteria for the newly-selected location on Idylwyld, the Downtown BID’s statement said the present Avenue C site and other potential alternatives have better proximity to shelters, food, programs and social supports than the Idylwyld location.
“The Avenue C location was purchased and renovated for approximately one million following a full due-diligence process. No evidence has been presented to suggest it is unsuitable,” the statement reads.
“Moving away from a purpose-built site raises questions about transparency, decision making, and long-term planning – particularly when the new location is estimated to require nearly two million dollars in additional investment.”
The Downtown BID noted council previously expressed concern about the Avenue C women’s drop-in centre being located close to the Salvation Army’s Crossroads Residential Services, a men’s shelter, but city administration said the two bays at the location make it flexible for use, adaptable to one being used each for women and men.
“This rationale appears inconsistent with Council’s earlier direction to seek alternative locations for the Ave C Women’s Drop-in Centre,” the statement said.
Nelson said the city has discussed criteria with her in the past about site selection.
“None of it actually fits,” she said.
Risk to downtown core
The Downtown Saskatoon BID noted that the new proposed site for the drop-in centre is one block from the future Downtown Event and Entertainment District, “one of the City’s proposed biggest-ever investments intended to drive economic growth and tourism,” sits along one of Saskatoon’s busiest traffic corridors, is surrounded by active businesses and services and is positioned directly across from a non-profit childcare facility that has an outdoor playground.
These various location considerations make this a less-than-ideal location for a drop-in centre for people who might be homeless in the city, the statement read, referencing uncertainty around how the centre will be operated and close proximity to children under the age of six.
“It raises some serious concerns about the alignment with the city’s vision and the future of our downtown businesses and its residents,” Nelson said.
She called it “irresponsible to introduce unnecessary risk to an area, where the City was fully aware of these sensitivities before this location became an option.
“It is unfair to place one essential community service at risk to deliver another,” she stated.
The statement said there has been no meaningful consultation with the Downtown Saskatoon BID, adjacent businesses, property owners or the childcare provider, the statement said.
Lack of transparency and due diligence
The statement adds, too, that clear rationale has not been communicated by the city for the abandonment of the Avenue C location for the drop-in centre.
It lists evidence that the Avenue C location is unworkable and comparative site analysis as not having been provided by the city while noting the additional investment that will be required to procure and renovate the relocation of the centre.
Nelson noted that the Downtown Saskatoon BID and businesses surrounding the Idylwyld site only received notice three days before the new potential location for the drop-in was publicly announced by the city. She added that reaching out to inform people who might be impacted by this new site selection does not amount to proper consultation of the potential relocation.
City says new location better suited to drop-in
Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block maintained during an interview on Tuesday on the CKOM Morning Show that the decision to relocate the drop-in centre away from Avenue C was always in the works, given that the Avenue C location was not ideally suited for the centre.
Block told Mark Loshack that it amassed too many services in one location.
“We are trying to make sure that, not only do we have different locations, but that they are suitable for the services that are being provided.”
She said council directed city administration to continue looking into potentially appropriate locations for the drop in, of which Block said there are “precious few,” to review what could be done for another location.
Block told Loshack that there is engagement by the city, where they “go out and make sure residents are aware.
“I think we’ve learned a lot in terms of how to manage locations where these kinds of services are,” Block said.
She reported that through the winter, Avenue C has operated smoothly but there are ongoing concerns about the positioning of a women’s warm-up next to the Salvation Army Crossroads Residential Services, which is a men’s shelter, as summer approaches.
“But I think that we can well expect that if we ask permission about where to put these kinds of services, you’re unlikely to get a lot of folks that are actually encouraging it, but we do know that they are needed,” Block explained.
She said Saskatoon’s city council is trying hard to accommodate the businesses and organizations that surround the new potential location on Idylwyld to create a security plan for everyone to feel safe in the area.
