SaskatoonMayor Cynthia Block says predictable, long-term funding lays the groundwork to find long-term solutions to a growing social crisis in Saskatoon.Mayor Block says funding helps city avoid last-minute rush for warming centre spacesJeremy Warren · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 8:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoSaskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block, left, and Premier Scott Moe jointly held a news conference Thursday to announce $3 million in provincial funding for drop-in centres in the city. (Jeremy Warren/CBC)Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block says the city won’t be scrambling to open winter warming centres this year.The city is getting $3 million from the province to fund year-round drop-in centre services, which include winter warming centres. The province announced the funding top-up to its homelessness plan at a media event Thursday in Saskatoon.Predictable, long-term funding lays the groundwork to find long-term solutions, Block said. Last year, the city’s two emergency warm-up shelters didn’t open until late November and early December.”This is making sure that at the start, everyone has a safe place to be,” Block told reporters.”We know we’ll have 365 days a year. We don’t have to talk about winter warming or summer [drop-ins]. Some of that programming will look a little bit different, but we at least know that it will happen.”The announcement only referenced “drop-in homelessness services” and not potential locations or how many drop-in centres could open. The province is working with the city and service providers to figure it out.A point-in-time count on Oct. 8, 2024, identified 1,499 people experiencing homelessness, nearly three times higher than the previous count in 2022, which identified 550.WATCH | Sask. government invests $3M to run year-round drop-in shelters in Saskatoon: Sask. government invests $3M to run year-round drop-in shelters in SaskatoonThe funding announced Thursday is on top of the province’s $40-million homelessness plan.Last winter, the city established temporary warming centres at the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre and St. Mary’s Parish. Block said the new funding helps the city avoid a last-minute rush to find warm-up shelter spaces when snow falls.”The amount of staff time, the amount of council time, the amount of police time and fire time that we spend urgently trying to figure out warming in the winter or drop-in centres in the summer, it will save an enormous amount of time and energy and allow us to focus on the many other things that our city requires,” Block said.The funding is a top-up to the province’s $40-million Provincial Approach to Homelessness (PATH) plan. The province said the $3 million top-up will be rolled into a new plan when the current PATH expires.St. Mary’s Parish, where the Salvation Army in Saskatoon operates its overnight warming shelter, is shown in a file photo. (CBC)The province is opening permanent complex needs shelters in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert. A permanent emergency shelter is open in Regina and in the works for the other two cities.Premier Scott Moe told reporters at the announcement that the province wants to provide a range of options for people who need or seek help.”The challenge that we’re facing as society is growing quicker than the solutions are and there’s much complexity behind why that is,” Moe said.”Investments are being made to meet people where they are and provide the supports that we can. But you need to start somewhere and you start with people that are already homeless today.”Moe credited Block for successfully lobbying the province to get the stable funding for drop-in services.ABOUT THE AUTHORJeremy Warren is a reporter in Saskatoon. You can reach him at jeremy.warren@cbc.ca.
Saskatoon gets $3M from province to open year-round drop-in, warming spaces
