The City of Saskatoon could be adding public washrooms to the Riversdale and Pleasant Hill neighbourhoods to address the lack of access in the area.
City council will discuss the matter on Wednesday with several options brought forward by administration.
City administration noted that several community partners like Prairie Harm Reduction, Sanctum Care Group, The Salvation Army and Saskatchewan Health Authority were consulted on how best to approach the lack of public washroom availability.
“Like many other communities in Canada, Saskatoon is being impacted by an increase in residents who are experiencing homelessness. With warmer months approaching, significant gaps in services and resources, including access to public washrooms and drinking water for residents experiencing homelessness, has increased,” the report to the city said.
It said due to the closure of the St. Mary’s overnight warming location the neighbourhood does not have a public washroom available between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Seven options are on the table and include a unstaffed portable washroom rental, an unstaffed washroom trailer rental, a washroom trailer rental with contracted staff, a purchased washroom trailer with contracted staff, a navigation and support centre that is staffed and offers a washroom, shower and laundry while also offering support for accessing services, a pilot project to have contracted staff for one Riverbank public washroom, and additional access to drinking water.
Administration is recommending that the city buy a washroom trailer with contracted staff, go forward with the pilot project at the Riverbank public washroom and to bring in additional drinking water access.
The rationale given by administration was that the demand for public washrooms was so high that a single location for washrooms would get overwhelmed.
The total price tag of these recommended options is estimated at $777,400, with an additional $25,000 set aside for potential damages.
Administration said $100,000 was already available for this project, but suggested the remaining funding come from the capital expenditures reserve.