(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Homeless Crisis

P.A. homeless looking for shelter as temperature drops, many being turned away over lack of beds

Dec 6, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Prince Albert’s homeless shelter is seeing an increase in the number of people looking for help.

As the temperature dropped well below freezing over the weekend, the Stepping Stones Shelter had to turn away as many as 34 individuals as all their beds were being used.

Fifteen of these situations happened on Friday, followed by three on Saturday, and 16 on Sunday. It’s possible the same individual may have been turned away multiple times.

Donna Brooks, CEO of the P.A. YWCA which oversees the shelter, told paNOW this is quite a high number when compared to previous years.

“Some nights we wouldn’t turn away any, some nights it would be five, six,” Brooks said.

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Brooks adds they currently have around 20 beds to offer each night, double the amount they’ve had in previous years. She believes this shows the severity of the situation the community is facing.

Over multiple features, paNOW’s Nigel Maxwell highlighted the city’s homeless crisis. This included multiple tent areas, businesses dealing with high amounts of public defecation and needles outside their doors, what some homeless individuals are calling a lack of resources, and a desperate need to change the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program.

Meanwhile, Brooks notes the shelter and P.A. mobile crisis unit have a partnership in place to support those who have to be turned away.

The crisis unit will try and help find the individual a warm place to stay for the night. Most of the time, this turns out to be a hotel room.

However, Brooks claims this isn’t a fix-all solution.

“There are those who are banned from the hotel or if they’re intoxicated then that’s not an option for them.”

She adds there could be the potential to use beds at the P.A. police service’s detention area, however, this isn’t an ideal situation with the shelter and crisis unit really only considering it an option for an emergency or desperate situation.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow