Rob Dunlop (left), manager of Homeward Bound, says staffing shortages everywhere are presenting a challenge for them. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Homeward Bound

Staffing levels causing biggest issues for Homeward Bound

Apr 20, 2023 | 12:00 PM

Tough economic conditions have hit many people in Prince Albert and the organizations trying to help them. For one local organization, however, the major issue is finding people to provide that help.

Homeward Bound continues their work moving unhoused people into housing as quickly as possible, and helping youth who are leaving the child welfare system. Right now, their biggest need is the right people to do so.

“For ourselves, it’s getting good, qualified staff,” said Rob Dunlop, director of program development at the YWCA. “It seems to be a staff shortage everywhere. So that’s one of our biggest challenges right now is finding good, qualified staff and getting timely services from some of the other agencies we deal with.”

Staffing issues at the Ministry of Social Services have slowed down some of the services they rely on, according to Dunlop, and the difficulty of finding people to help with mental health challenges has flared up as well.

“For our clients, one of the biggest things has been the effects of inflation on the little bit of money they do have,” Dunlop said. “They’re trying to stretch what they do have to make it go a little further. It affects our programming as well. We have to be innovative and find ways to do more with a little bit less.”

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The good news is the current federal employees strike doesn’t sound like it will impact Homeward Bound too much, as Dunlop said many of their clients have contingency plans for getting their funding. On the other hand, the latest dump of winter weather isn’t helping them very much either.

“We’re looking forward to summer because we do a lot of our programming outdoors and a lot of our cultural programming is land-based,” said Dunlop. “So we’re looking forward to that.”

Dunlop took an optimistic attitude toward the snow dump, however, saying it hasn’t affected them much and has just forced them to up their game in terms of programing offered indoors. He applied that same attitude to the latest round of challenges as a whole.

“If we made it through COVID the way that we did, we can pretty much make it through and adapt to anything,” Dunlop said. “We’ve had lots of challenges as an organization and as a community, and we’ve shown we’re very resilient and we’ll adapt to whatever comes our way.”

Dunlop added the staffing and inflation challenges they face are similar to ones he hears about other local organizations facing.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP