Saskatoon Tribal Council‘s (STC) Emergency Wellness Centre will stay open a while longer as city council voted to extend the centres’ lease for another 12 months.
The vote was unanimous throughout council at a quick session held Wednesday afternoon.
The wellness centre on 1 Ave. N in downtown Saskatoon has 75 beds for the homeless people. Since opening last December, it has been consistently full. Tribal Chief Mark Arcand previously told Global News the services are much needed in order to combat homelessness and drug use throughout the city.
However, residents and business owners in the downtown core have raised concerns about the shelter’s location. Some say people around the centre have been openly using drugs causing them to feel unsafe. To offset the concerns, the wellness centre added more voluntary peacekeepers to patrol the building — residents of the shelter themselves.
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark stressed his support for the shelter saying the extension is only temporary, but very necessary.
“The wellness centre has been full and over capacity ever since it started. So to close it I think it would be inviting a much bigger challenge in the downtown than what we already have.”
Clark added, STC is in serious talks with a landowner of a building about a more permanent location, and the move is expected to happen within a year, or even sooner than expected.
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The mayor also said the community needs to come together to help the city move this project along in order to help reduce homelessness and drug challenges in the core.
Tribal Chief Arcand previously told Global News he hopes the new location is larger so they can offer more services such as mental health and social services to be able to help more people in need. The new location for the wellness centre is still unknown.
STC looking to fund and secure 2 new locations
On Thursday, Arcand said now that the STC has received an extension to remain downtown for another year, they are looking to fund a move out of downtown.
Arcand said he is looking at two locations.
One site on 20th street would need up to 12 months to fully renovate, but Arcand says the group is close to finalizing a deal there.
The other location, which has not been specified, would take less time to renovate but discussions with the building manager are ongoing.
Arcand said the STC wants to secure both locations in order to offer more services and house more people.
“The reason why is because we need two facilites because of the complex needs of people. So we see people here that have serious complex needs and then we have people in the middle that are trying to get healthy,” Arcand told reporters. “And then we have people that are just homeless.”
“We need to separate those people because a lot of people are getting triggered by the complex needs.”
Arcand said the STC would need $10-15 million to lease and renovate both locations. STC will be looking for provincial and federal funding to expand their services.
“My commitment to the city as a tribal chief and as an Indigneous organization is we’re here to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem,” Arcand said.
Though some business owners and residents don’t want the wellness centre downtown, Arcand re-iterated he doesn’t want it downtown either.
One resident at the STC wellness centre said it’s changed his life for the better.
“This place here, within 24 hours I knew my life was going to change for the better,” Jason Wattendorf said.
“My goal is to make a difference, and I didn’t know how to do that before,” Wattendorf said.
— with files from Kelly Skjerven
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