1st phase of resident relocation complete after City Centre Inn shutdown: City of Saskatoon

Residentsforced to leavethe City Centre Inn and Suites onSaskatoon'sIdylwyld Drive after it wasclosed Thursday due to health and safety violationshave been moving into different temporary places to stay, according to the city and other local organizations.

The city'srelocation team has completed its first phase of support after the closure of the motel, previously known as the Northwoods Inn,a news release Friday said.

The city said 120 people were offered temporary housing at places such as local shelters and hotels. Longer-term housing options were also available to several former motel residents. An additional 20 to 30 people have found other places to stay, such as the homes of family and friends, according to the city.

"We were expecting to get a good number of people and really ended up only getting a handful so far," said Anna Pacik, fundraising and communications manager for Lighthouse Supported Living.

She said the emergency shelter had the capacity to help former motel residents.

While a lot of people seemed to have slept outside the Lighthouse Thursday night, she doesn't believe that was related to the motel shutdown.

"People sleeping outside is fairly typical in the summer," said Pacik."As our nights get warmer, we often see people sleeping outside by choice."

A spokesperson for the Salvation Army, which also will be providing food over the weekend, said itsshelter has accepted some of the motel's residents, but it didn't present a challenge to the shelter's capacity.

The Ministry of Social Services and AIDS Saskatoon were connecting with the former residents Friday to confirm they are at their relocation sites, and to provide clothing vouchers and follow-up with requests for additional support, the city said.

'Huge gap' intransitional housing

The Saskatoon Tribal Council hasalso been checking in with the people.

"They're settling in," said Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand.

"It has been an experience that I don't think we want anybody to go through. We have different teams going out there, door to door, and making sure that everybody is looked after."

Some of the services available to the former IdylwyldDriveresidents include cultural support andmental wellness at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, said Arcand.

"Some of them basically left without any clothing," he said.

"Whether [the items] were infected through infestation or whatever, they couldn't take a lot of their stuff."

After talking with his team, Arcand saida big lesson has been learned regarding the needs ofpeople insituations with "landlords not being responsible and providing a healthy home for people."

"We really got to be proactive and preventative in something like this, so it never happens again."

The rehousing team plans to meet on Monday to discuss further actions to support the people affected by the motel closure, the city said.

Pacik thinks finding appropriate housing for some of the people might become a challenge.

"There is just a huge gap in our city for transitional housing and supportive housing."

The Saskatoon Fire Department shut the motel down Thursday after identifying more than 60 health and safety violations during a recent inspection sparked by an anonymous complaint.