‘We do what we can’: Organizations respond to challenges, growing demand for winter warming shelters

Finding locations for warming centres in Saskatoon is becoming harder each year as demand rises. Allison Bamford reports.

As temperatures drop and the snow begins to fly, communities are once again tasked with finding space to keep some of the most vulnerable safe in the winter months.

It’s a yearly challenge that has proven to be a little more complicated in Saskatoon this year.

“What we need is a year-round, basic shelter that is large enough to cover all these needs,” said Gordon Taylor, executive director of The Salvation Army. “That’s something we don’t have yet. So in the meantime, we do what we can.”

The Salvation Army runs a men-only overnight warming centre out of a church hall in Saskatoon. Doors opened for the season this week, and already the group has seen an increase in use, likely due to word of mouth and colder temperatures.

“When we opened on Monday night, we had 30 guests. It’s gradually increased already through the first week. Last night we had 70,” Taylor said. “We’ll see how that trends and continues to go in the days ahead.”

The centre is one of two overnight drop-in warming locations in the city, open from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. every day.

“As they arrive in the evenings, we offer a supper meal. Before they leave in the mornings, we offer breakfast,” Taylor said. “it’s just a warm, safe place to be.”

Saskatoon city council scrambled to find a similar space to house its women-only overnight warming centre this year after potential options fell through. Councillors expressed frustration at a meeting on Wednesday as this seems to be a challenge every year.

“There are not a lot of options and no one necessarily wants to provide their facility for a use such as this,” said Celene Anger, the city’s general manager of community services.

Council approved a downtown location just two days before the warming centre opened.

The Saskatchewan government provides operational funding for the centres, but Social Services Minister Terry Jenson said it’s not up to the province to decide on a location.

“That is strictly up to the municipality,” he told CTV News.

“What the ministry can do is try to ensure that process happens in an expedient manner, realizing what the timelines are to ensure that things like renovations happen or even just staffing a shelter in order to have that ready to go over for a season.”

Growing demand

According to Taylor, demand for warming centres in the city grows each year, and there’s indication that this winter the trend will continue.

Homeless encampments have popped up in every Saskatoon neighbourhood this year.

The fire department recorded 1,248 encampments as of Sept. 1 and cleaned up 357 of them. It’s an increase from 2024, when crews cleared a total of 218 encampments.

The social services minister said it’s “concerning whenever there are additional individuals that are needing this support.”

Jenson says he’s met with community-based organizations, including the Salvation Army, to collect data on the people seeking help in the city.

“We’re trying to find out exactly why these individuals are where they are,” he said. “If they’re here and they have no way of getting home, we’re trying to work with them to ensure that they have an ability to do that.”

Between the city’s two warming centres, Taylor says they should be able to meet demand for now, adding that future year-round services would go a long way toward addressing some of the challenges and providing an alternative to encampments in the summertime.

“We need to do better long-term planning to have these things solved year to year, rather than each year,” he said.