City committee wants province to be transparent on new homeless shelters

Members of Saskatoon City Council want more transparency from the provincial government as the groups work together on two new emergency homeless shelters in the city.

City administration is busy trying to find a pair of sites which can each accommodate 30 people to help the city deal with its homelessness situation.

During Wednesday’s Government and Priorities Committee meeting, council members passed two motions which will see requests sent to the provincial government.

The motions ask the province to have representation at public consultations when the city eventually identifies where the shelters will be located. Council is also requesting the province share which organization will be operating the shelters.

A homeless encampment in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)

“What we would like to see is provincial representation at these (public) meetings, because there are many questions people would ask that are the province’s responsibility,” said Ward 3 Councilor David Kirton.

“What happens to people who use these shelters? What kinds of follow ups? What kind of services are available? All those sorts of things.”

Kirton added that he’d like to know which service provider will be running the shelters sooner rather than later.

“I would suggest we should have a clear idea who the service provider should be by the time we find locations,” he said. “We have very good ones who are good neighbours. and there are other ones who are not so good.”

Kirton stressed the importance of making sure the public is kept informed about what’s happening in their community.

“That’s top of mind for me, because what our neighbourhoods went through with the establishment of a shelter on Fairmont (Drive),” Kirton said. “I want to make sure people are in the full knowledge of what to expect with the shelter.”

The councillor noted that work is moving along, but said things will progress very quickly and answers will be needed soon.

“(We’re talking) weeks, not months. It will be pretty quick, because we want to have these things before the winter,” Kirton said.