Looking into Prince Albert’s growing homeless population

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However, through work with the City’s mobile complex needs team, bylaw officers, and the Prince Albert Police Service’s community safety officers, Dinsdale said they discovered that not everyone in encampments is actually homeless.

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“There are folks that congregate in certain places across the community that may not necessarily be unhoused. They may have somewhere they live in Prince Albert, but they socialize and gather in certain areas. So although what the community is seeing and experiencing is the same, the issue and the solution to those things may look very different.” 

Residents and business owners say, homeless or not, there are still issues created by some who congregate in public spaces and leave garbage, use drugs, or are intoxicated and sleeping on the sidewalk; it creates an uneasy sense of public safety.

“It’s cold comfort for community members, but it’s important for us to understand those trends because the solutions that we need to put in place need to be tailored to what we’re seeing.” 

Through conversations with the people on the streets, the complex needs team has also found some of the reasons why the homeless population seems to surge in the summer compared to the colder months. 

“They may be couch surfing, or they have a number of places they might be able to stay, but those places are no longer available to them in the summer. So some of it is that more people are displaced in the summer. Some of it relates to the fact that we are a hub community and our community number ebbs and flows throughout the year.” 

Other events like last year’s wildfire evacuations may have left more people, who had homes elsewhere, displaced in Prince Albert without a means to travel.

Prince Albert isn’t the only city in the province dealing with a homelessness issue, but while cities like Saskatoon consider removing park benches from the downtown area, Dinsdale said that Prince Albert’s strategy can’t just follow what everyone else is doing. The homelessness solution needs to be tailored to the City’s needs, and be fluid to follow changes in homeless trends in the future.

“We’re also fairly unique. We have a lot of correctional facilities around our community. We are a service centre, and so there are other factors that can influence at any one time what we’re seeing in our community and what the response needs to be.” 

A complex needs shelter with another 10-15 beds is in development and is expected to open sometime during the fall. Initially, it was expected to open this summer. 

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com