Alberta-based Christian non-profit to run two Saskatoon homeless shelters

An Alberta-based Christian non-profit organization will be the new operator of two 30-bed homeless shelters in Saskatoon.

According to its website, The Mustard Seed has been operating since 1984, and has shelters in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, and Kamloops.

Its website said the first shelter in Saskatoon “is scheduled to open early Spring followed by the opening of the second space in the fall of 2024.”

Speaking on The Evan Bray Show with guest host Taylor MacPherson, Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton said The Mustard Seed may not be well-known in Saskatchewan, but it is in Alberta.

“If you mention them in Alberta, everybody knows about them,” he said. “They’re sort of the Salvation Army, I guess, of southern Alberta.”

Kirton added the City of Saskatoon has been looking at a variety of shelter locations throughout the city for the last couple of months.

“Our administration has been scouting out those locations (and) has been talking with to the province; it’s up to the province to determine now if they like that location (or) if we have to keep looking,” he explained.

“I’m hoping that decision is made quickly.”

TMS’s website and financial statements indicate the organization operates “525 regular emergency shelter beds, 395 regular housing units, and 60 winter emergency shelter beds in Alberta and BC.”

Wraparound services include providing meals, hampers, clothing and personal hygiene items, dental, chiropractic and medical programs, job assistance, ID assistance, mentoring, permanent supportive housing and advocacy, and other services.

According to an independent auditor’s report prepared by KPMG, TMS received more than $21 million in donations, $17 million in government funding and several million dollars in other income for a total of nearly $43 million in income for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

Questions to the City of Saskatoon about the exact locations of the two shelters and opening dates were directed to the Ministry of Social Services.

A request has also been made to the ministry on the identity of the operator of the new 15-bed complex-needs shelter on Idylwyld Drive, along with an opening date.

In October, the provincial government announced a strategy to address homelessness, which included 120 new, permanent emergency spaces and a pair of new emergency shelters in Regina and Saskatoon.