Prairie Harm Reduction’s former Saskatoon home listed for sale

The former home of Saskatoon’s supervised consumption site, Prairie Harm Reduction, is for sale five months after the organization ceased operations.

The property is listed for $324,000 and is being sold under an order from the Court of King’s Bench issued in July.

Court documents obtained by 650 CKOM show the order stems from mortgage proceedings between Affinity Credit Union and Prairie Harm Reduction.

Read more:

• Prairie Harm Reduction operations suspended by Health Canada
• Prairie Harm Reduction fires executive director, puts out urgent call for support
• ‘Significant change’ for community after Prairie Harm closure: Saskatoon mayor

The documents show Prairie Harm Reduction was not behind on mortgage payments, but $239,357 in principal and interest remained outstanding as of June 4.

The order also appointed a selling officer to market and sell the property if the mortgage was not redeemed or reinstated.

Under the order, government bodies, public entities and non-profit organizations had the first 30 days to make an offer on the property.

Saskatoon Community Clinic chief operations officer Toby Esterby said he knew the property would eventually be put on the market.

The clinic’s Westside location is beside the former supervised consumption site.

Esterby said the clinic will continue to provide primary care in Saskatoon regardless of what happens next door.

“We’re hopeful that a year from now, something that is of good value to the neighbourhood can lift up and continue supporting residents that call Pleasant Hill home,” Esterby said.

For Esterby, Prairie Harm Reduction next door to the clinic was “valuable” to the neighbourhood.

“(Prairie Harm Reduction) was a great ally in the community with the work that we do in primary healthcare, and they supported a lot of folks,” he said.

Esterby said he’s seen changes since Prairie Harm Reduction’s closure that affect more than the Pleasant Hill area.

“In every neighbourhood of the city, we continue to see individuals that are unhoused, and the number of individuals unhoused increases,” he said.

Owner of Pleasant Hill Dental Centre and member of the Riversdale Business Improvement District, Effie Kutsogiannis, said conditions in the area have “changed somewhat for the better” with the closure of Prairie Harm Reduction.

However, Kutsogiannis said she still has concerns about encampments, loitering and “a lot of garbage” behind the former supervised consumption site.

“We have always been weary because of the infrastructure being present for a safe consumption site or potentially another organization opening up another safe consumption site,” she said.

Kutsogiannis said the Riversdale Business Improvement District has contacted the provincial and federal government to prevent another supervised consumption site from opening in the area.

“Because we are close to a school area, we’re within 250 metres of a school, and we’ve seen the problems that have arisen with the safe consumption site in the area,” she said.

Kutsogiannis said she wants all levels of government to work together to support recovery and improve access to wraparound services for those in need.

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff