New shelter for unhoused set to open in Saskatoon the same day 2 warming centres close

Scott Larson · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 2:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Saskatoon's newest structure for the unhoused volition unfastened connected Tuesday.

The downtown shelter, located adjacent to the erstwhile Saskatoon Transportation Company autobus presumption connected Pacific Avenue, volition beryllium tally by The Mustard Seed, the Alberta-based non-profit group.

"We are moving to supply [the unhoused] with a harmless and supportive abstraction for folks to travel successful and enactment with them connected getting housed," said Samantha Lowe, elder manager of structure operations with The Mustard Seed.

The structure volition include 30 to 40 beds, food, lawsuit management, and supply connections to different services.

"We respect the information that everybody is successful a antithetic signifier of being unhoused," Lowe said. "But astatine the aforesaid clip our extremity wide is to get everybody who comes successful done our doors housed."

The opening comes arsenic 2 impermanent warming shelters tally by The Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre and Salvation Army are closing connected Tuesday. They served much than 100 radical connected a nightly basis.

Salvation Army enforcement manager Gordon Taylor says the fig of radical utilizing their structure has been trending down.

"Last nighttime we had 66 guests staying astatine the warming centre, but we've been arsenic precocious arsenic 100 passim the winter," Taylor said connected Monday, adding galore of the radical utilizing the warming centres volition person trouble staying astatine the caller shelter.

"A definite fig of radical who conscionable for a assortment of reasons — usually immoderate operation of addictions, intelligence wellness issues — aren't acceptable for that lawsuit absorption model," helium said. 

Bed indispensable beryllium reserved

People coming to the caller structure volition person to reserve their bed for the adjacent nighttime oregon it volition beryllium fixed to idiosyncratic else.  That's due to the fact that they are trying to physique enactment and spot with people truthful they tin assistance them modulation to imperishable housing, Lowe says.

"Working with idiosyncratic takes clip and it takes connection," Lowe said. "So if an idiosyncratic comes in, they enactment overnight and they privation to enactment again, they person to reserve their abstraction for that night. Otherwise, we'll springiness it up to the assemblage that comes.

"We privation to marque definite that we're moving with them successful a longer-term fashion."

Lowe says they are moving with the city, occurrence section and police, and it is her knowing that determination volition beryllium other security around the shelter.

All this comes arsenic the metropolis grapples with an overdose situation that has seen the Saskatoon Fire Department respond to much than 700 overdoses truthful acold this year.

The unhoused and overdose crises are cited arsenic crushed for the temporary closure of the downtown and Mayfair room branches.

According to the City of Saskatoon's astir caller point-in-time number past October, 1,499 radical were unhoused.

Mayor Cynthia Block says the caller structure is simply a measurement successful the close direction, but worries those who person utilized the warming centres volition person nary spot to go.

"The metropolis is moving urgently with the state connected a program to capable those gaps." Block said. "We request to marque definite that radical person a harmless spot to be, careless of the clip of twelvemonth oregon the hr of the day."

Taylor would similar to spot a basal year-round structure for those not acceptable to determination into the caller shelter.

"I deliberation a year-round basal structure would run a small otherwise than the overnight warming centres," helium said. "The hours would astir apt beryllium longer, and you could person radical connected tract to springiness much direction, much options astir what you tin bash next."

Taylor says determination volition beryllium immoderate hard choices for galore radical successful the months ahead.

He's praying for bully upwind successful April "because we could inactive beryllium deed with a wintertime tempest and determination isn't a Plan B astatine the moment."