La Ronge’s Scattered Site Outreach Program is looking at relocating to a new building.
According to a Town of La Ronge Facebook post, the proposed location is on La Ronge Avenue, right across from the Waterbase Inn and Suites.
Community members who have been living in La Ronge for some time will remember the building as the old SaskPower location.
Earl Cook, board member for the Kikinahk Friendship Centre which oversees the outreach program, said the relocation would better serve clients.
“It will be, I think, an improved situation, a better facility that we [will] own and it will be much better, I think, for the clientele that we serve,” he said.
Cook said the friendship centre is hoping to buy the building.
However, the new location would still have to be approved by town council and zoned as a temporary shelter service before a move could go ahead.
“Well the first thing is we have to get the funding together and, more importantly, it has to be zoned properly so we have to go to the town for that and it’s my understanding that the zoning part of it will go to La Ronge town council this coming Wednesday,” Cook said.
If town council approves the friendship centre’s request, he said the existing building would still need renovations before Scattered Site could operate out of it.
“It will be a place where the homeless can sleep so we have to make sure there’s bedrooms and that kind of thing, make sure everything is up to code. The half of the building will be office space and kitchen because in addition to being able to sleep there, they will also have a chance to have something to eat.”
The space the program is currently operating out of is rented by Kikinahk.
(PHOTO: The Scattered Site Outreach Program is looking at relocating to the old SaskPower building, shown here, in La Ronge. Photo by Sam Campling.)