To meet the significant needs for vulnerable individuals, the opening of two new drop-in services in Saskatoon was announced today, for youth and individuals experiencing homelessness. This includes a daytime drop-in centre for individuals who are in need of a safe space with access to support services as well as an overnight drop-in centre for youth aged 16 and older. Both services have a planned opening date of June 15th.

The Government of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Tribal Council and the City of Saskatoon have co-funded the daytime drop-in centre, located at Station 20 West, open from 10 am to 10 pm. and will provide connections to emergency shelters and housing, coordinated access systems, recovery and mental health programs and services.

Mayor Cynthia Block says, “Foundationally, we need to make sure that people get housing.  We know that is going to take a bit more time.  We have 757 affordable housing units that are under construction right now, some of which will start to be open this year, and that’s going to be a huge help, but it’s going to take a couple years-maybe three-before we really start to shake out places for people to be where they can be safely housed.”

The Government of Saskatchewan partnered with Saskatoon Tribal Council to provide an overnight drop-in centre during the summer for youth at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, open from 10 pm to 8 am. The centre will provide food, a place to rest, an on-sight elder, shower and laundry services, case planning and referrals to programs in the community.

Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says these services are Indigenous led but the doors are open to all who are in need.  Arcand says, “A lot of kids are leaving their homes at different hours of the night, for various reasons and need somewhere safe to be, and this will help them with that as well as transition them to maybe social service calls.  Whatever we’ve got to do to keep kids safe.  We don’t want them ending up being homeless…human trafficking, drugs and addictions, gangs-we don’t want them in those negativities.”

Arcand says, “We will be keeping stats and data on how many kids are going through there. What are the numbers? What are we seeing? What are the challenges?  What are the outcomes?  What are the results?”

The Government of Saskatchewan has collaborated with all levels of government and Indigenous and community partners since the $40.2 million “Provincial Approach to Homelessness” announcement, developing many shelter and safety resources for people in the community.