City of Saskatoon developing rules for emergency homeless shelters

Staff at the City of Saskatoon are busy developing potential bylaws allowing for the creation of emergency homeless shelters in the city.

At the city's planning, development and community services meeting on Monday, administration said work was being done to get a bylaw ready for council's approval at its next meeting on Nov. 22.

"I think this is a real example of our administration being very adaptive and working to problem solve with the community in the face of a very challenging situation," said Mayor Charlie Clark.

"Identifying the right location or locations for this type of facility is not simple, but it is urgent."

Last week, the Saskatoon Tribal Council announced its plans to create a 50-bed emergency homeless shelter in the city that would hopefully be ready by Dec. 1.

The call for emergency shelters comes after a spike in homelessness in the city. According to the Saskatoon Fire Department, approximately 100 people are homeless in the city right now, and three fires have been started accidentally so far at encampments.

The fire department had activated an emergency operations centre to identify where homeless camps have been set up, and attempt to give people supports and move them inside before cold weather hits.

The fire department says the encampments are unsafe and pose risks to life, safety and property.

The city said any emergency shelters would have to be approved, and would have to follow fire codes and other safety measures.

Lesley Anderson, the city's director of planning and development, said administration was still working through the details.

"We have to balance all of this with the fact that there are only certain types of buildings where this is going to be able to be accommodated," she said.

"What we don't want to do is put in restrictions that will make it impossible to achieve this, because we are trying to ensure a safe and accessible building to be provided for this winter."

Anderson said the city was not looking at placing the shelters in low-density residential areas.

Cameron Choquette, CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlords Association, spoke at the meeting and blamed the spike in homelessness on changes to provincial social assistance programs.

He said the Saskatchewan Income Support program, which ceased paying landlords directly for rental housing, is the root cause of the issue.

"These systemic changes are creating a new level of homelessness in Saskatoon and in our province prior to the program changing," he said.

"I think what needs to be understood is that there are long term-issues that the temporary emergency shelters won't fix and that a co-ordinated approach needs to be created."

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association sent out a letter last week citing its concerns with the Saskatchewan Income Support program.

While bylaw changes normally go through several steps, including the municipal planning commission, council is fast-tracking getting the permissions up and running as soon as possible.

The changes will be voted on by council at its next meeting on Nov. 22.