Shelter meeting hopes to gain public insight on best location

Guidinger’s department at city hall includes development and housing.

The YWCA has been trying for four years to find a location for a permanent, purpose-built shelter but has run into opposition from residents and business who do not want it nearby.

Guidinger told the gathered crowd that the point of the meetings is to give information as well as get input from the public in order the find the best spot.

“What characteristics should a successful shelter have?” he said.

Anna Dinsdale, Community Safety & Well-being Coordinator, said later that the idea of the meetings is to find out if residents have common ideas on what area would work best and then they can look for locations that match that.

A shelter is just one part of the solution to the addictions and mental health issues, compounded by a lack of housing, that is creating the homelessness situation.

The housing continuum begins with no housing and moves to home ownership. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

Dinsdale explained the idea is to move people along the housing continuum, with no housing at all being the first step.

“The emergency shelter is one small part of this housing continuum,” she said. Council has been advocating to the provincial government to build a complex needs centre in the city which helps fill a gap for people who have too many issues to remain in the shelter.

“This is a gap. If someone is experiencing psychosis, they don’t need a police cell or a bed in the shelter,” Dinsdale said.

Donna Brooks, Executive Director of the YWCA, said that the current temporary shelter under the grandstands at the Exhibition Centre can only accommodate 45 beds and is not a stable situation.

They often turn away as many as 30 people per evening because they don’t have space and do turn away people who are violent, who end up in jail or at the hospital.

A shelter allows people with no other options a warm place to sleep, a place during the day and access to the start of moving people along the continuum to transitional housing. Last year, they moved 61 people out of the shelter into more permanent housing.

Brooks said there is a housing shortage in Prince Albert and when there are too many people wanting an insufficient supply so the most vulnerable are the first to lose a place.

From the YWCA’s perspective, a good shelter includes walkability to services, it needs to be safe, esthetically pleasing and needs an outdoor space for clients to use. In Prince Albert, it needs to be able to hold 80 beds.

“This is not a money issue, this is an issue of what will be best for Prince Albert,” she said. She added later in the meeting that the idea a shelter will invite more people to be homeless in the city is a misperception.

“If you build it they will come?” she said. “They’re already here.”

Chief of Police Patrick Nogier said that wherever the location is, police can get detailed information on crime statistics in all neighbourhoods and will know if there is a change and will be able to manage it.

Focusing on the numbers is the best way to make a decision, he said.

“Start taking those statistics now, so that we’re not jumping to conclusions. If we’re seeing a spike in activity, if it’s maintaining activity or if there’s a drop-in activity,” he said.

“What I can tell you with some certainty, is that the absence of a location for individuals to go to – if not well-designed – (they)will continue to show up on your doorsteps. They will continue to be on the corners of the streets, they will continue to be the first impression when people go down 2nd Avenue.”

In 2024, PA Police went to 41,000 calls for assistance in the city. Of those, 292 were at Stepping Stones Shelter.

Key issues were evictions for people who are violent or uncontrolled and who are taken to either police cells or the hospital. Gang members are not allowed inside.

Our House had 81 calls for assistance and YWCA on Central Avenue had 256 calls.

“In the grand scheme of things we’re responding to, this is a very small percentage,” said Nogier.

Once the presentations were done, members of the public could ask questions of the presenters and many took the opportunity to do so.

Patty Hughes, CEO of the Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce said that while the business community supports the shelter construction, they are concerned about the location.

Some businesses are paying between $100,000 and $300,000 in security right now and, in the case of small businesses such as those on Central Avenue, have sunk their life savings into their stores.

A hospital worker stood in line to say that in his view, the hospital should stop being used as an emergency spot for people to warm up as they are very busy with patients.

“We’re one of the most unhealthy populations in the country,” he said, asking when the shelter can be built.

The owner of a business on Central Avenue said her walk-in traffic is down significantly as her customers don’t want to have people ask or demand money from them while they shop and they don’t feel safe.

One commentor said that he felt the city meeting was not being upfront and that they have already chosen a place.

“Will there be public consultation with respect to location? This appears to me to be fait accompli,” he said.

The next meetings are:

January 20 at the Midtown Community Club, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
January 21 at the Alfred Jenkins Field House, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
January 30 at PAGC Urban Services, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

by Susan McNeil

Shelter meeting hopes to gain public insight on best location

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