The Mustard Seed still awaiting move-in date for new shelter

Time is ticking on the end of 2024 and the Mustard Seed still has not heard from the city on when a new temporary shelter on Saskatoon’s Pacific Avenue will be opening.

“I’d like it to be done tomorrow, but I have not been provided a date,” said James Gardner, the CEO of the Mustard Seed when asked why the newly approved shelter hasn’t opened yet.

“The date is not for us to decide. We are the operator and so we will be told when it would be ready. I would hope sometime this winter it will be done.”

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Gardner spoke at a Chamber of Commerce lunch in Saskatoon on Thursday and said there is a delay in getting the shelter ready. The original timeline for opening was December, but he said during his presentation that a December opening date was not going to happen.

“My understanding of the issue is in order to make the property habitable for humans, there’s a number of renovations that need to be done,” he said.

“So those have been identified and now it’s just a matter of how is that going to get funded and who is going to do the work? I would say it’s at a mechanical stage now. The internal site has been designed. We’re the operator, we aren’t doing the renovations. The parties doing the renovations are working through the municipal process and the funding that’s involved.”

When council approved the shelter, it signed an 18-month lease. The city also committed $250,000 towards renovations to the building to make sure things like showers, bathrooms and a kitchen were available.

The shelter will be located on the site of a former Saskatchewan Transpiration Company terminal. It was debated throughout the month of September by Saskatoon city council. After a number of lengthy debates and public sessions, the plan was approved for the temporary shelter with room for 30 to 40 beds.

CKOM has reached out to the City of Saskatoon for further comment on the alleged delays to the shelter. The shelter was set to open late this year.