The Tribal Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council is speaking out against a planned 30-bed homeless shelter in the city.
A location for the new facility was approved by city council last week with the facility to be operated by the Mustard Seed. It will be located on Pacific Ave in the northern part of the city’s downtown area.
However, STC Chief Mark Arcand believes the plan for the new facility is flawed.
One of the concerns Arcand raised at a press conference Wednesday morning is that the new facility is not adding new homeless beds to the city simply taking them from pre-existing beds at the STC’s Emergency Wellness Centre.
Arcand also feels a 30-bed facility is nowhere near enough to support the hundreds of people facing homelessness in the city.
“We don’t have enough spaces right now to help the amount of people in Saskatoon, it is a known fact,” said Arcand. “If somebody says we have enough shelter beds, they are wrong.”
A big concern for Arcand is that this plan was put in place without consultation with the already existing service providers in the city; the STC and the Salvation Army.
“There has to be a proper plan with this, and I don’t see a proper plan.”
Arcand is proposing a different plan where the funding meant for the 30-bed shelter would instead be re-directed to fund temporary warm-up shelters for the winter.
The Tribal Chief pointed to a 2022 homelessness count, which said there was around 500 homeless people in the city. Another count is planned for October, and Arcand feels that number has risen.
“With 105 in our facility and 80 in Salvation Army, where are those hundreds of other people going to go,” he said.
In the meantime, the planned facility is waiting for approval from City Council for an 18-month lease. A vote is expected on September 25. If approved, $250,000 of renovations will then take place to get the facility up to par with a plan to open before the end of the year.
The City of Saskatoon has said the search for a longer term solution will also continue.
(TOP PHOTO – STC Tribal Chief Mark Arcand speaks with reporters at a Wednesday morning press conference. Photo by Joel Willick)