A homeless encampment in Prince Albert. (file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Homelessness

Concern growing over lack of winter shelter for homeless

Sep 23, 2022 | 4:32 PM

Groups that work with homeless people in Prince Albert are sounding the alarm over the lack of a cold weather shelter in the city, especially for men.

Options that were available for the last two years are no longer on the table, as previous funding was connected to the pandemic along with the availability of the Exhibition Centre building.

“We’ve had a number of plans in place and things that were being worked towards and it hasn’t really gone all that well, to be honest,” said Brian Howell of the River Bank Development Corp., an affordable housing provider in the city.

On Thursday, the Exhibition Association said it no longer works for them to allow their building to be used as they return to normal activity levels.

He added that all levels of government, such as the federal and provincial governments and the City of Prince Albert are well aware of the situation and have been working behind the scenes.

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“Everyone is trying to collaborate and work together to come up with a solution for this winter,” Howell said, “but we really need to get going on a solution that would work for this winter.”

The last Point-In-Time count of homeless people on the streets of Prince Albert saw a large jump, with numbers doubling from 26-27 people in 2021 to almost 60 in March 2022.

Howell thinks the growth is from people in the northern part of the province moving south, often choosing to pursue education and jobs in Prince Albert. However, not all are in the same position and some end up on the street. Many have addictions to either alcohol or drugs, particularly methamphetamine.

The nature of the homeless population has also changed.

“We’re seeing things here that we haven’t seen before, with shopping carts, with people camped in entrances, with more encampments with big groups of people around businesses,” Howell explained. “As we head into winter, we do have a situation that is different from what we faced in the past few years.”

During the pandemic, the YWCA, PAGC, River Bank, the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness and the Prince Albert Exhibition Association joined forces to fund and operate the shelter. Some money was provided by other levels of government.

Local groups do not have the capacity to deal with the volume of people now calling the streets of Prince Albert home, said Howell.

YWCA Executive Director Donna Brooks said the cost to run the required shelter, for 6.5 months of the year, is likely $500,00. She based her estimation on what it cost to run the Stepping Stones shelter.

The situation in Prince Albert is not isolated with Regina and Saskatoon both seeing similar growth and changes.

Some services are available to targeted populations, such as a shelter for women, children and youth (YWCA) and a daytime warming shelter, called The Moose Lodge, which offers meals and clothing run by the PAGC.

The Social Detox Centre at the Victoria Union Hospital has beds for those who are intoxicated.

“We really need to come up with a long-term solution and that solution would be a bigger shelter, 40 to 60 beds and operated by someone locally with the capacity to do that, hopefully an Indigenous organization,” Howell said.

The Gate, a facility operated by Gateway Church, was a resource centre for the homeless and provided clothing and assistance for people with Hepatitis C or HIV. It was run by volunteers from the church but closed permanently the other day.

A proposal to the City of Prince Albert by The Mustard Seed, a faith-based organization from Calgary, AB has not had a decision reached by council, which had questions about funding and deferred it to a future date. That proposal would include 50 overnight beds in a building near the downtown.

paNOW reached out to the province about what steps are being taken and received this response from the Ministry of Social Services:

“We are continuing discussions with YWCA and other community partners related to emergency shelter spaces in Prince Albert. The root causes of homelessness are complex and all levels of government, community leaders and partners have a role to play in addressing it. Together with Indigenous and community partners, the Ministry of Social Services is continuing to develop new approaches to address chronic homelessness to better support individuals who need more than a home to remain connected to housing.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com