A man sleeps on a Prince Albert street. In the three years since this photo was taken, the homeless population in Prince Albert has reached 230 people. City council is now on the verge of choosing a spot for a permanent shelter. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Shelter location

City council narrows down shelter location

Mar 25, 2025 | 6:26 AM

Prince Albert city council has made progress on where a permanent location for a homeless shelter will be.

Council voted five to three in favour of building in the vicinity of the current temporary shelter at the Exhibition Grounds at their executive committee meeting on Monday evening.

“Well, right now we’re at the point of saying, OK, we’ve got a tentative location picked. What we need to do is work with the provincial government, the YWCA, to say this is the footprint of the building that they want,” said Mayor Bill Powalinsky after the meeting was done.

The likely location is one of several recommended in a report prepared by staff that included information from four public meetings held around the city in January and February. The address was not specified but is near the current shelter.

While it is not the top location identified, Councillor Troy Parenteau said it had other benefits when he made the motion to have council move forward with the location.

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“There are some synergies with keeping the shelter in that area,” he said. The staff at the Prince Albert YWCA, which will operate the shelter, already have connections with neighbouring property owners in that area, being one.

“It’s very clear that people in the city are looking for clarity and looking for a way to move forward,” Parenteau said.

Around 30 members of the public were at the executive committee meeting at city hall, many speaking in favour of council just making a decision after seeing too many delays.

One of the speakers pointed to a legal case in Ontario that forbids municipalities from removing encampments if no other shelter options exist.

Some supporters of the shelter had gotten frustrated with what they saw as a lack of decisiveness by city hall.

Pat Weir told council that she has seen homelessness in her travels in other countries, and that while the previous council should have decided, it is now up to the current group.

“The responsibility now rests with you,” she said. “A decision must be made by you, not the YWCA, not the downtown association. It is your responsibility and the time to act is now.”

YWCA CEO Donna Brooks welcomed the step forward and said her organization saw benefits and drawbacks of the locations in the report, including the one that is being proposed.

“The pro to having permanent shelter close to where we currently are is that we have operated there for four years and have an established routine in operating a shelter in the area. We can focus on having some services come to the shelter,” Brooks said.

One of the hopes for a permanent location is to have enhanced services, such as a mental health worker or counsellors that can work with the shelter users who need more assistance to maintain housing on their own.

Councillors Dan Brown,Tony Head and Bryce Laewetz voted against the motion.

Laewetz represents Ward 4, where the preferred location could be, and posted to social media after the meeting.

“While I absolutely respect the urgency of finding a permanent solution, up until now, consultation did not include specific locations,” he said. “I was elected by the people of Ward 4 with a commitment to transparency, communication and consultation and I take that responsibility seriously. That’s why I couldn’t in good consciences support a decision of this magnitude without first giving my ward residents the opportunity to be informed and heard and to help guide me in this decision.”

At least one more meeting will happen before any final decision is made.

With a better idea of where council wants the shelter, Director of Community Development Craig Guidinger said that the work on preparing a development application can start as soon as Tuesday.

Once the permit is ready, it must come back to council and the neighbouring property owners will be notified and another meeting announced.

Powalinsky said the plan is to notify a wider range of affected properties than is required and that anyone that wants to attend that meeting will not be turned away.

“It won’t be restricted or limited to just that area. It will be again, in transparency, it’ll be an open public opportunity,” he said.

The province, which is funding the shelter, has prepared plans for several sizes of buildings to suit various sizes of lots.

“It’s going to really depend on how quickly the request for tenders can be dealt with. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that we might be seeing some work this fall,” he said.

Hopefully, the building will be done as quickly as 12 months but possibly up to 18 months.

Meanwhile, the YWCA will be looking for a new location for one more year of temporary operation as their current location under the grandstand has issues that mean the shelter can no longer operate out of that building. The Steuart Arena has been raised as one possible temporary location.

Brooks thanked council for making the decision.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social