(File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Stepping Stones

P.A.’s homeless shelter set to offer more services as they prepare to open for 24 hours

Nov 30, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Prince Albert’s only homeless shelter is set to open its doors 24 hours a day.

Stepping Stones has been open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. since the beginning of November, but staffing issues forced them to delay opening up the doors throughout the day until the start of December.

That day is officially this Friday and Rob Dunlop, director of program development for YWCA Prince Albert, told paNOW they’re all ready.

“Clients who access the shelter on (Thursday night) will be able to stay on Friday throughout the day,” he said.

Besides offering 45 beds for people to use overnight, Stepping Stones will now offer brand-new services. This includes income assistance support, addiction counselling, medical care, and help finding work. They’re also working on setting up cultural programming.

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Dunlop said the next few months will be a trial run for how they’ll operate the permanent shelter that’s been in the works for years.

“We like to build our programs from the clients out, so a lot of (work) will be watching the clients, listening to their requests to see what they need, and reacting.”

They’ve also reached out to organizations operating permanent shelters in other cities to discuss the challenges they’ve had to deal with.

Stepping Stones currently operates out of the Prince Albert Exhibition Grounds. This will be the last winter it’ll be there as the City of Prince Albert has promised to find a new location. The plan is to operate the shelter on the grounds until April.

“We’re optimistic we’ll have a permanent solution before then,” Dunlop added.