Homeless situation is consuming, City councillor says

He pointed out that city staff deal with some of the impact of homeless people and the addiction problems that cause it, daily.

Society does not hesitate when it comes to providing care for sick pets, and Edwards said if people can know that a pet needs to be taken care of, they should know that people do as well.

“This consumes my life, thinking about how we can rectify this issue. It consumes many of our lives because right now I know that the city administration deal with it on a regular basis, our employees deal with it on a regular basis,” said Edwards.

A man sleeps under a thin blanket at the start of winter in Prince Albert. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

City councillors also meet regularly basis with agencies and other governments trying to come up with solutions.

In the last few years, council has opted to have a report on the situation completed by local researcher Dr. Chad Nielsen, who returned months later with several recommendations.

They included creating a Chronic Risk Solution Forum to co-ordinate all the various groups working with homeless people to look for solutions and a recommendation that the Mayor’s office create a housing committee.

The Forum was created and has begun its work looking for ways to support people who have chronic risk and finding ways to pay for a permanent shelter. They are also looking at a shuttle for homeless people and ways to deal with discarded needles.

Edwards has also joined a forum that includes city councillors from Yorkton, Humboldt, Regina, and Saskatoon; all communities experiencing similar issues.

They met with provincial ministers asking for a permanent shelter for the city and were rejected.

Edwards is not the only councillor to have met with no reaction from provincial officials.

Edwards said the whole community is affected and with some increased aggressiveness from addicted people either panhandling or just walking around, people are worried.

“The citizens of Prince Albert are concerned. Yes, they care about people, but they also enjoy going down to the riverbank and enjoying their time. Are people able to do that when there are tent cities set up there? When there are aggressive intoxicated people coming towards them, asking them for money or just yelling at them?” he asked.

Councillor Terra Lennox-Zepp pointed out the Housing First model many areas are moving to. Almost all existing housing has rules/barriers but eliminating them can be useful, she said.

Prince Albert does have a housing first program run by the YWCA, called Homeward Bound, that has operated since 2018.

She also talked about the public bathrooms placed near the viaduct during the pandemic that were eventually removed because of the volume of discarded needles.

“I just have to point out that the first thought I had was that those are discarded needles that are not in our parks that aren’t in our streets,” she said. “What a positive that these needles are being placed in one central location rather than everywhere in our city.”

Lennox-Zepp suggested that one solution might be to build public bathrooms and have a needle receptacle nearby.

Transportation is contributing to homelessness in cities with the lack of ability of people to use things like the Greyhound bus to get home, another possible avenue for governments to step up, said Edwards.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Homeless situation is consuming, City councillor says

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