Community consultation on hold for shelter in Saskatoon’s Sutherland area

A Saskatoon city councillor for the area where a new shelter is set to open is just as surprised as residents to be hearing their community consultation process is being postponed.

In a release shared by the City of Saskatoon on Friday, it was announced that the neighbourhood information sessions scheduled for next Tuesday and Thursday — one online and one in person at Sutherland Hall — are being postponed, along with the reports planned for presentation at the city council meeting that was set for Feb. 28.

The emergency residential shelter, proposed to be established on Central Avenue in the Sutherland area, is meant to be an enhanced shelter model that will have 30 beds and 24/7 access. Clients at the shelter will also receive three meals a day, case planning and wrap-around supports.

The city also said it continues to work with the Government of Saskatchewan on “final details” to prepare for the Sutherland shelter and more time is needed to continue developing an “integrated plan.”

“All partners know that the way the shelter will operate is one of the most important questions on the minds of residents and business owners and recognize the need to get the right plan in place before the shelter becomes operational,” the city stated in its release.

The shelter is set to be run by The Mustard Seed, an organization that operates shelters in various cities in Alberta.

Councillor confused

Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill said the postponement of the dates related to the shelter were a surprise to him.

Hill said he himself spoke with team leaders with The Mustard Seed.

“They really instilled a lot of confidence in me in terms of what their operation is going to be like,” he said, adding that it sounded like the organization was ready to proceed with the shelter.

“I don’t know where the delay now is, but I believe that this has been mishandled by the city administration from the get-go.”

Hill said senior administration with the city released the location of the shelter before details were in place and solid community engagement meetings could be established, though this should not have been the case.

“The residents have justified concerns and to now cancel the meeting and delay it for another month, it’s simply unacceptable,” Hill said, also calling it “bad management” by the city’s administration.

Hill clarified these decisions are being made by senior administration, not city council.

Community consultation

There is no guarantee that the neighbourhood information sessions, when rescheduled by the city, will give residents a chance to air their grievances, Hill shared.

The councillor said he assumes the initial virtual meeting will involve the city informing people about the plans for the shelter. The second meeting may offer more opportunity for residents to ask questions and voice concerns.

However, Hill isn’t sure what impact that will have on the process — saying the concerns and feedback the city hears may just help inform a safety plan being developed by police and the fire department for the area.

“These are done decisions by the senior administration. There’s an exercise that it has to come to city council for approval, and I think every member of council should be accountable for how they vote,” Hill said.

While he said nothing is set in stone, Hill would wager the six votes necessary to see the shelter established in Sutherland are, indeed, going to move the project ahead when that vote is rescheduled.

But Hill personally wants to know what the concerns of residents are. Knowing the difficulties that have arisen out of the placement of the emergency wellness centre in Saskatoon’s Fairhaven neighbourhood last year, Hill has his own concerns about setting up a shelter in another residential part of the city.

“The city has really let the people of Fairhaven down,” he said. “We surely dropped the ball.”

Hill expressed understanding that residents in Sutherland would lack confidence in how this shelter will be put in place and managed, given how the Fairhaven community has been impacted.

He said he toured the shelter and neighbourhood of Fairhaven just before Christmas. During that visit, Hill said there were four calls made for emergency vehicles to respond to the apartment complex across from the emergency wellness centre in a 45-minute period.

Asked if that was a typical occurrence, Hill said he was told that it was considered a “slow day.”

“(Fairhaven residents) feel as if they’ve been left out to dry and nobody’s helping them,” Hill said.

Knowing the new shelter in Sutherland will be surrounded by residential single-family homes, apartment complexes and a heavily programmed recreational facility, Hill is hoping to see fewer issues arise with the Sutherland shelter.

He said the hope is the growing number of shelters in the city will dissipate the demand on any one singular shelter and, as a result, its surrounding neighbourhood.

He said further evaluation will have to happen to see if the smaller, 30-bed scale for the shelter is able to accept enough people to prevent disruption from happening outside the shelter’s doors.

“It’s not going to be without problems,” he acknowledged.

Confidence in care

Hill’s visit to Fairhaven also gave him an appreciation for how well the shelter itself is being run.

“I was just blown away by the commitment and dedication that all those workers in the shelter have for the people using the facility,” he said.

Hill noted that concerns beyond the shelter in Fairhaven have been the biggest concern for the area. The Mustard Seed has a proven track record of addressing community concerns like those, Hill shared.

He said the organization has also already been in the neighbourhood, and knocked on more than 100 doors last week in an effort to begin connecting with the community.

Operational considerations

“I think the location is a bad idea, absolutely,” Hill, said of the Sutherland shelter,

He clarified that consultation meetings are the job of the city, though it seems that details about the shelter are being clarified between the city, the province and The Mustard Seed.

While he isn’t sure what “final details” are being discussed, Hill said he is confident that The Mustard Seed is ready to manage the facility well.

Hill himself would like to see Saskatoon consider a campus model for shelters with a plethora of wrap-around programs services, including housing, addictions, safe injection, outside recreation, counselling, integration into homes, a cafeteria and separate accommodations for men and women.

Further, that location should be at least 160 metres away from residential homes, schools and playgrounds, Hill said — referring to the adult service bylaw put in place in the city more than a decade ago.

Hill to hold info session for residents

Hill is inviting concerned residents to his own public information session on Sunday at the Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School gymnasium.

He hopes community members will join him, even though the meeting might coincide with the day of the Super Bowl.

“I want to be able to let the citizens know how we got to where we are, who’s been making the decisions,” Hill explained. “I have been adamant from the very start that all of these conversations should be happening in public, not behind closed doors.”

The meeting is set to last for two hours, beginning at 3 p.m.

Rescheduled dates for the neighbourhood information sessions about the Sutherland enhanced emergency shelter will be rescheduled within the month, according to the city, with notifications being shared online and on the city’s social media channels.

The location of a second 30-bed shelter for Saskatoon is still being determined.