‘We need services on the east side’: Saskatoon residents question shelter placement strategy

As Saskatoon gets more support to address homelessness and addictions, some residents are wondering if services are too concentrated on the city’s west side.

The chosen location of a new emergency shelter is stoking feelings of apprehension and fatigue for some residents living on the west side of the Saskatoon.

“Why does the City of Saskatoon treat the homeless population and the homeless issue like a west side issue and not a Saskatoon issue?” Joanna Latimer, a longtime Caswell Hill resident, said during an information session for residents last Monday.

In August, the province and city announced 170 31st Street East - a vacant lot next to Saskatchewan Polytechnic and Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre - was chosen as the location for a new 60-bed emergency shelter.

Many residents wrote letters to the city for its proximity to a nearby school and park, others attended the information session for residents, which was attended by city administration, Saskatoon police, the fire department and Mustard Seed, the chosen operator of the eventual shelter.

“There’s no services on the east side,” Latimer continued, before her question was answered. “Why is that?”

Deputy fire chief Yvonne Raymer said homeless people have different needs, which demands different needs in different areas of the city. She said some homeless people on the east side tend not to cross to the west side of Saskatoon because drugs are more present, and they don’t want to be preyed upon by gangs.

“I think that we need more shelters within the city,” Raymer said, responding to Latimer. “I do believe we need services on the east side.”

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Data from the Saskatoon Fire Department shows there have been 1,248 homeless encampments across 70 different neighbourhoods as of Sept. 1 recorded.

More than 160 have been counted in Pleasant Hill alone, with three other neighbourhoods having slightly less than 100. Caswell Hill, the residential neighbourhood closest to the shelter site, is fifth on the list with 45 encampments in 2025.

During the meeting, Leslie Anderson, the director of planning and development for the city, said city staff or council do not choose where these services set up or exist.

“They could operate on 8th Street. They could operate [at] another retail location. They chose not to. We have not dictated that for any of those services,” she said.

Since announcing its new approach to homelessness plan two years ago, the province tasked municipalities to choose a location for shelter spaces.

City administration in Saskatoon looked at hundreds of different locations at various points and eventually found the site on 31st Street because it fit the criteria city council agree upon.

That criteria underwent an adjustment last year when administration initially chose the former location of Fire Station No. 5 on Central Avenue in Sutherland was fiercely opposed by local school parents and residents.

Eventually, Zach Jeffires, the local councillor for the neighbourhood, successfully introduced a motion to have all shelters be at least 250 metres away from an elementary school.

“I do know that many service providers are also looking at what else do they need to provide in the community in other locations,” Anderson said.

When asked about the new shelter at a separate news conference on Thursday, Mayor Cynthia Block said choosing a location is almost never met with an applause by most residents, but the information session is just the beginning of the city’s plan to keep residents informed about the shelter’s operations moving forward.

“To make sure that we are communicating well and understanding what’s happening on the ground so that people who are unhoused feel safe, and so does the neighborhood around them,” she said.

Mustard Seed is expecting to move out of the temporary shelter downtown and begin operations at the new shelter in September 2026.