Prince Albert city councillors shut down proposed West Flat emergency shelter

Prince Albert YWCA CEO Donna Brooks, Oct. 9, 2024. (Jasmine Pelletier / CTV News)

The Prince Albert YWCA is still looking to find a permanent location for its emergency shelter after a motion to re-zone a potential site did not get approved.

"We're not going to force a shelter on any neighbourhood that doesn't want one," Mayor Greg Dionne told CTV News.

"We will be working with the YWCA to see if we can come up with another location."

City council received 25 letters of opposition to the YWCA’s plan to convert the building at 420 18th Street West into a shelter.

The proposal to re-zone the property failed to make it to a vote at the council meeting on Oct. 7, as no city councillor would second the motion.

Donna Brooks, the CEO of YWCA Prince Albert, said there are a lot of misconceptions about people who use the emergency shelter.

"We don't allow people who are gang affiliated," she said. "We don't allow people who are violent. We do have rules."

Stepping Stones, the YWCA's temporary emergency shelter, has been located at the exhibition grounds on a monthly lease with the exhibition association since 2020.

The YWCA says the 45-bed shelter has been at capacity almost every night.