Mandatory distance between future shelters, elementary schools set by Saskatoon council

City council had a delayed start to its meeting Wednesday and then took most of the day to reach a decision on two motions presented with regards to Saskatoon’s homeless population.

Mayor Charlie Clark opened the meeting noting the issues of homelessness and creating shelter spaces is one being tested by anger and divisiveness in the city presently and talked about the importance of creating spaces for civic dialogue on the topic.

Two new shelters are slated to open in Saskatoon in the coming months — a complex-needs centre to be located in the Mayfair community and a shelter on Central Avenue, intended to be a temporary emergency shelter.

A motion submitted by Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill requested a report on crime statistics in the Fairhaven neighbourhood to gauge the impact the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s (STC) wellness centre has had on the community.

The motion also asked that administration report on what community safety measures will be in place for the two shelters proposed to open in Saskatoon, with a clearly identified course of action proposed for residents and operations of the facilities.

Clark noted that STC Chief Mark Arcand was present at the meeting.

Hill made it clear by amending the wording of his motion at the beginning that his intent was not to cast doubt on how the wellness centre is being operated, but to examine the shelter’s impact on the Fairhaven community.

Two people were present to speak at the meeting on Hill’s motion — Pastor Robert Pearce, who lives and works in Fairhaven, and Lisa Knudsen.

Pearce brought some crime statistics to the meeting, provided by the manager of the 7-Eleven located on Pendygrasse Road near the wellness centre. Pearce noted from those statistics in 2022, the business reported 58 incidents — whether those be shoplifting, nuisance, assault, robbery or other potentially criminal situations. Police statistics, according to Pearce, showed that Saskatoon police only recorded 24.

The following year in 2023, the same business recorded 627 incidents. Saskatoon police recorded 147.

Pearce said, logically extrapolating that data, it’s likely that less than a quarter of crimes being committed in Saskatoon are being captured by police statistics.

“To be clear … we know the police work very hard,” Pearce told council. “We appreciate them in our community, they care very much about us and I know they’re doing their best.”

Pearce said his concern has to do with how information about incidents is being captured to reflect in statistics.

The pastor said before the wellness centre opened, he had dialed 9-1-1 only a handful of times in his life, and only in the case of real emergencies.

“Last summer, I called 9-1-1 and the dispatcher recognized my voice,” Pearce said, reflecting on the numerous calls he has made over the past year to police.

Pearce proposed amending Hill’s motion to consider data going back to 2021 — to clearly show the change since the wellness centre arrived in the Fairhaven community — and asked a series of public consultations be put in place to see that crimes being committed are also being recorded by police.

Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton asked Pearce if he’s still in favour of seeing the shelter close. Pearce’s open letter earlier this month suggesting that was met with anger by Arcand.

While Pearce said he and other residents in the community want to see homeless people helped, he doesn’t see how a shelter can succeed anywhere in a residential community. Having seen community property values decrease and residents pay out of pocket to protect their properties, he said he feels the community has to take a stand to see the shelter closed and a better solution found.

Pearce shared that his concerns have been shared with the province but he has not heard back.

Kirton then asked Pearce if he was a racist.

Pearce explained he has various connections to people — including some family — of other races and pastors people of all backgrounds before replying: “I would like to think I’m not, sir.”

Clark said the city is aware of challenges in Fairhaven and other neighbourhoods and asked what Pearce imagined would happen if the shelter closed.

Citing a lack of due diligence and community consultation at the time the shelter opened, Pearce said the issue for his community is more now about the heavy price people are paying and how the shelter came about in the first place.

“This isn’t about labelling people … this is about real people with real needs that are being helped,” he said.

Clark also asked Pearce what his solution would be to the homelessness crisis.

“I am nowhere near qualified to even offer a solution,” Pearce responded. “I don’t have experts on payroll to help me with social issues … We’re just a community.”

Knudsen expressed being “dumbfounded” looking at statistics for the Fairhaven neighbourhood and expressed worry that the same community decline will happen to Sutherland should a shelter open there.

Ward 4 Coun. Troy Davies offered his thoughts, saying an appropriate plan needs to be created for when shelters are located in various parts of the city.

“If you don’t move forward on this … our (slogan of) ‘City of Saskatoon shines’ is going to be ‘Saskatoon crimes,’ ” Davies said.

Clark again noted the dissension online and in the media over potential blame for the difficult situation the city and various neighbourhoods are experiencing. He said he believes the situation Saskatoon is facing is a messy one.

“That is a wider and very real issue that we collectively as a community need to work to address,” he said of the difficulties facing the homeless population.

He said he also recognizes concerns and fears of residents dealing with the fallout, noting that more solutions are needed.

Clark also addressed allegations that secret meetings and closed-door sessions pushed through shelter actions in the city, saying he has been transparent throughout these processes.

“I have not had something to hide in this process,” he said.

Hill’s motion passed unopposed.

Homelessness in Saskatoon

After lunch, council received an update from Saskatoon Fire Chief Morgan Hackl, providing context on the worsening homelessness situation in Saskatoon.

Hackl told council that based on updated encampment data looking at the first two months of 2024, contact with homeless individuals is triple what it was last year at the same time.

The fire chief said Saskatoon didn’t have a warming centre in 2023 like it does now. The centre was expected to accommodate 80 people each evening, but instead regularly welcomes 130 individuals.

While homeless numbers are growing, that is without knowing how many people in the city are “couch-surfing,” according to Hackl.

He said the cold weather has doctors reporting regular amputations of extremities on people who are homeless. Hackl recounted hearing that one doctor had to remove eight toes from one patient.

Hackl told council the longer someone is homeless, the more difficult their circumstances become and the harder it is to support or advocate for themselves.

Mandatory distance between elementary schools, shelters

Council voted unanimously later in the meeting to waive notice on the motion presented by Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jeffries that would require a 250-metre distance between any provincially operated shelters in the city and any elementary school, as well as 500 metres between any two shelters.

According to city administration, the passing of the motion would require administration to consider sites other than the Central Avenue location in Sutherland for the temporary shelter.

Jeffries’ motion passed partially. It was decided by council that the 250-metre separation between future provincially operated shelters and elementary schools be added to the criteria that was approved by the Governance & Priorities Committee in October. That criteria is the framework used by administration to evaluate and select sites for future shelters.

The administration is also to report back on a potential definition for “shelters,” using criteria based on current-day operations of the six overnight shelters currently providing services in Saskatoon — a motion arising proposed by Hill.

Responding to the suggested 500-metre separation between shelters, council decided after numerous suggested motions arising that administration report back on “maintaining and clarifying the existing distributed approach to siting” in the city.

Several councillors commented on the urgency of allowing administration to proceed with finding a location to house people who have nowhere else to go, especially with the cold temperatures.

In closing, Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen expressed interest in moving reports on the issue of homelessness in the city through at scheduled meetings if needed, to help tackle decision-making on the topic in a more expedited way.

Mayor concerned

According to the mayor, 100 people are sleeping outside in Saskatoon on any given night.

“I’m in the warmth of my home and I’m really worried right now that we have more people sleeping outside in these kind of conditions than we have see for many years,” Clark said on Wednesday’s 650 CKOM Morning Show.

The provincial government committed in the fall to funding new shelter spaces across the province. The proposed location in Sutherland has been met with strong opposition from residents who say the location poses a safety risk for children who attend a nearby elementary school.

Clark says balancing the concerns of residents and meeting the provincial government’s criteria has been a difficult task for himself and his colleagues on council.

“I’m on my 18th year on city council (and) eighth year as mayor. I’m finding this to be most challenging situation. We have to find a place that fits the parameters of what (the province) is looking for and can be done as urgently as possible,” said Clark.

“If anyone has ideas, or can identify locations that they think can meet these needs without creating opposition, we’re all ears.”

Clark recently went on a ridealong with a community outreach group where he met a homeless person who explained how  he “tunneled into the snow on the riverbank” to keep warm at night.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker