SaskatoonCity council voted to purchase a former restaurant at 325 Avenue C South in the Riversdale business district, even though it’s located right next to the Salvation Army Crossroads shelter.Purchase of former restaurant in Riversdale business district for winter warming is approvedPhil Tank · CBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 5:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesSaskatoon city council voted on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, to purchase this former restaurant at 325 Avenue C South to convert it to a winter warming centre for homeless people. (Phil Tank/CBC)Despite warnings that establishing a warming centre next to an existing homeless shelter is a “bad idea,” Saskatoon city council forged ahead Wednesday.Council voted to purchase a former restaurant at 325 Avenue C South in the Riversdale business district, even though it’s located right next to the Salvation Army Crossroads shelter.Major Gordon Taylor of the Salvation Army criticized the location as a “bad idea,” even as he acknowledged the need for warming spaces as winter looms.“We’re preparing for the worst because it’s the wise thing to do,” Taylor told city council. He said his experience in Winnipeg showed him that locating too many similar services in the same neighbourhood proves to be a “disaster.”Council heard from the city’s director of planning and development, Lesley Anderson, that an exhaustive two-year search for a warming space location had yielded only one building: the one on Avenue C South.Property owners generally don’t want to lease buildings for uses like a warming space, Anderson said.“We continue to look for more options.”Only Coun. Senos Timon, who represents the Riversdale neighbourhood, voted against the purchase. He said families in the area feel unsafe already. Locating the warming space near the Salvation Army shelter will create “more pressures” in Riversdale and adjacent Pleasant Hill, he said.Timon and Coun. Robert Pearce tried to get support for a more equitable distribution of services for vulnerable people throughout the city, but that idea was defeated.“I think we need to put the services people need in an area where they are,” said Coun. Randy Donauer. WATCH | The city gave residents their first look at its homelessness action plan in July:1st look at Saskatoon’s homelessness action planThe plan proposes a handful of tactics to help homeless people, including working with developers to convert underused commercial properties into affordable housing, and giving incentives to property owners to repair and renovate existing units. Pearce, who was elected last year based on his opposition to a 100-bed provincial homeless shelter in the Fairhaven neighbourhood, said homeless people and those who prey on them tend to be located on the west side of the South Saskatchewan River.However, homeless people on the east side of Saskatoon don’t want to cross the river, he said.“I’m going to vote in favour of the purchase of this building because I don’t want to see people die this winter,” Pearce said.The funding for the $805,000 purchase of the building is coming from a federal grant. The federal government is also expected to pay for $200,000 in renovations needed to convert the former restaurant into a warming space.Council heard that if a preferable location is found, the city can sell the building.The city plans to lease the building to the provincial government, which is expected to sublease it to an agency that will operate the warming space.The city estimated that renovations will push the opening of the warming space to the end of November.Daryl Brown, who has owned and operated an alternator repair business in Riversdale for 33 years, blasted the idea of locating a warming space in the community and the lack of consultation.He called city hall “sneaky and underhanded.”He said people and businesses in Riversdale have spent many years trying to build up the neighbourhood.“This once-thriving community is being destroyed by the city administration with the winter warming centres, soup kitchens and harm reduction services being forced on us,” Brown said. “We have spoken and you are not listening.”Also Wednesday, council approved the city’s affordable housing strategy and endorsed the idea of establishing a single hub for homeless services in the city.ABOUT THE AUTHORPhil Tank is a journalist in Saskatoon.
Saskatoon city council backs Riversdale warming centre, despite warnings
