Saskatoon agencies working with community centres, churches to keep homeless warm during COVID-19

The Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership(SHIP) is looking for more locations to be part ofthe city's cold weather strategy for homeless people due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Physical distancing rules mean temporary shelters and warm-up stations will be at much lower capacity this year. That means more locations need to be found to keep people safe over the winter.

"On those nights when it may be -30 C, rather than having a location that may in the past have been able to accommodate 20 or 25 people in a warm-up location, we are now looking at places that may accommodate six or four," said SHIP executive director Lyn Brown.

Saskatoon's cold weather strategy is overseen by about 20 agencies, including the city,the Saskatoon Police Service and the Ministry of Social Services.

Organizations involved with the strategyare trying to get creative, talking to churches, hotels and other groups.

"We're starting to think out of the box," said Brown.

"Possible locations such as homes or community centres or churches. We're talking to many, many different people at this time."

Brown said it's very important that all people follow physicaldistancing rules around COVID-19. Agencies are concerned at the prospect of an outbreak happening among the city's most vulnerable people.

"Our warm-up operations are going to ensure that we are social distancing and that individuals will be required to wear masks," she said.

The group is also asking hotels to house people who won't fit into overnight shelters.

Brown was concerned about precariously-housed people who move from home to home, some of which are already overcrowded.

The group has also asked the cityaboutusingsome of its buildings to house people on cold nights. As of now,officials say there are no plans in place to use city facilities as shelters.

Ultimately, Brown is worried the number of homeless people in the city will spike due to COVID-19, making a bad situation even worse.

"People have lost jobs. Sometimes they haven't been able to pay rent and they've been evicted," she said.

"Our housing case managers are extremely overloaded at this point."

Since the middle of June, SHIP has found housing for roughly 50 people, Brown said.

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