The city of Saskatoon Governance and Priorities Committee has a significant amount of material to deal with today including next steps regarding shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Last week the Government of Saskatchewan announced it will fund an additional 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces. The City’s responsibility is finding locations for two shelters. The province will fund the shelters and hire a service provider.

The provincial government has asked the City to identify sites for emergency shelters with a likely scenario for two new emergency shelter locations each with room for approximately 30 people. Administration has been working to identify possible locations but at this time no sites have been selected or short-listed. The Province had said it will provide a secure and medically supervised facility for homeless persons with complex needs to go to, for up to 24 hours.

In a report to the committee Administration has indicated if a site is selected that requires re-zoning, public information sessions will be held in accordance with normal re-zoning but even if zoned properly there will still be a public information session to provide information and answer questions. As well the city web page will have a dedicated link to keep residents informed on the current status and next steps.