Saskatoon warming locations collect data on entrants to paint picture of city's homelessness
Operator says data collection not identifying clients
Some Saskatoon warming locations are collecting data on the people who stay with them to better understand who is experiencing homelessness in the city.
The Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre and Salvation Army in Saskatoon have been asking more questions of the people who use their overnight warming spaces.
The Friendship Centre warming location houses more than 100 people — at some points more than 200 — in the evening, before it turns to an overnight warming centre. Then it splits the load with Salvation Army: men at St. Mary's Parish, operated by the Salvation Army, and the women at the Friendship Centre.
Of those people Friendship Centre executive director Michelle King found there are more unhoused men than women. And the majority of the clients are Indigenous, predominantly First Nation.
She said it's "terrible" that there is a gender split, because it can split up intimate partners, but understands there needs to be a safe space for women, as well.
By the numbers
For King, the number of people having to stay the night aren't as high as she expected, but the latest point-in-time count that attempts to tally the number of people experiencing homelessness shows it's risen by nearly three times from 2022 to 2024.
"It's a desperate situation," she said.
King said about 55 to 90 women stay at the overnight warming space, on average. She referenced one case in which a high school student stayed the night and was dropped off at school the next morning.
The Salvation Army said the number of people using the warming locations is up from last year, but with two spaces now filling the gap, it's more manageable. Usually, about 95 men stay the night, below the 120-person capacity.
"Now, if we had a super cold night and 122 people showed up, we're not going to turn two away," Gordon Taylor, Salvation Army executive director, said.
Like the Friendship Centre, it's been asking more questions of people entering its facilities, but said it won't turn people away who don't answer their survey.
Of those who have reported to them, Taylor said "well over" 90 per cent of the people coming into the shelter are from Saskatoon. He said he's heard people believe people from outside the city are contributing to its homelessness issue.
Taylor said he's also found that about two-thirds of the people entering the facility are on government assistance and the remainder do not have an income.
Both centres say they need more winter clothes, including mitts.
Need more rehab beds
King said the centre constantly receives calls and questions about rehabilitation services for people.
She said there was once a time that she arrived to the building and someone had apparently overdosed outside the facility. Their partner was hysterical, King said, and said they could not get into rehab despite their attempts.
If they can't find a rehabilitation bed, King said, "They stay in that cycle and some may succumb to that addiction."
"The story is the same. There's waiting lists that are astronomical and people aren't able to access those services."
Recently, Saskatchewan announced, in a new release, the opening of its largest addictions treatment centre at the EHN Willowview Recovery Centre.
It said intake began in late January.
With files from Saskatoon Morning