Saskatoon Tribal Council wellness centre given lease extension

The downtown emergency wellness centre run by the Saskatoon Tribal Council will now be able to keep its doors open for several more months.

At its regular meeting on Monday, city council voted to extend the lease until June 15. It also agreed to begin the process of changing the city's zoning bylaw, which could extend the lease until April 2023.

The wellness centre has 75 beds that house people with no place to stay and provides food, laundry and counselling services.

The centre opened in December in an attempt to keep people warm during the winter and to help deal with the city's growing homelessness issue.

The centre's lease was originally set to run out at the end of April, but many advocates say the centre is still needed.

"Homeless people have nowhere to go," said Brent Brazeau, a 57-year-old man staying at the centre.

"Where would you like us to go? … Delisle? Then someone in Delisle is going to say, 'Not in my backyard.' And off we go again." 

The location of the wellness centre has drawn concerns from some businesses in the area, particularly those closest to the building on First Avenue N.

Brent Penner, executive director of the Downtown Saskatoon Business Improvement District, told council that nearby businesses are running into higher rates of crime in the area as well as messier streets.

"I'm not here representing big, bad, business people," he told council. 

"This was a quiet block, where really nothing was going on prior to the centre opening. We have to at least be cognizant of that."

Tribal Chief Mark Arcand has maintained throughout the process that the Saskatoon Tribal Council never wanted to place the centre in its current location, an unoccupied office building owned by the City of Saskatoon.

However, after a search for suitable locations turned up empty, the tribal council decided to take the city up on its offer and temporarily locate the facility there.

Arcand told councillors that STC continues to search for a suitable place for the wellness centre, but has not found one in move-in condition.

"There's no facility that actually meets our needs as a turnkey operation," said Arcand.

"It has to come with a renovation, and that'll take time — around eight to 12 months."

Police Chief Troy Cooper said that crime in the area has increased since the wellness centre was set up, but that the shelter is needed.

"Certainly, closing the door would have a negative overall impact on the community," he said.

"I would suggest that our challenge now is just that we can mitigate the impact of that as best as possible."

To extend the shelter's lease until 2023, three separate meetings will need to be held to change the area's zoning laws. Changes to the area's zoning would need to be publicly posted and would then need to return to council's next meeting in May. 

Then another special council meeting would need to be held to consider a lease extension to next year.