Only shelter in La Ronge shutting down until fall
La Ronge’s only homeless shelter is temporarily closing, leading to concerns about access to food, shelter and addictions services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kikinahk Friendship Centre executive director Ron Woytowich says the Scattered Site Outreach program is on hold until the fall because the centre is struggling to afford the $18,000 to $19,000 cost of running it in the summer months, when he says it’s only getting a handful of clients a day.
“Putting it bluntly, we’ve been operating it for a number of years now, and if anything were to be changed, fixed, whatever, it would be in July and August when the need is not that large,” Woytowich said.
The Scattered Site program operates out of a building near the heart of La Ronge, offering meals, a unisex shelter and addictions and mental health services.
Woytowich says it sees an average of 80 clients a day in the winter, when it’s one of few shelters across the whole of the province’s north and being outdoors can be fatal. But that number declines in the summer when people are able to sleep outdoors.
La Ronge physician Dr. Sean Groves says the shelter is a vital service for the area’s most vulnerable communities and is used yearround by people who use drugs and people with chronic mental health conditions. He says these people often have complex health needs but that staff have been consistently successful in supporting them.
“Of all the programs that exist in our community for high-risk people, I would argue Scattered Site is our most utilized and probably our most successful for providing services,” Groves said.
He says people might not necessarily stay at the shelter as often in the summer but might camp nearby or use it as a safe storage location for valuables and personal belongings. He believes the loss of the site will mean more people winding up in the emergency room.
“I have no doubt that if Scattered Site isn’t functioning, it will mean more negative health outcomes for our most vulnerable.” Groves said.
Woytowich says he did not want to close the shelter but could no longer justify the cost. He said the shelter part of the operation is not normally open in April or May but that hours were extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shelter is largely funded by the provincial Métis housing corporation. Woytowich says applications for federal funds have historically been unsuccessful.
He adds that the actual building itself is old and has “countless problems,” including a lack of a ventilation system.
“You’re afraid to pull out the walls because there might be mould in there,” he said.
Woytowich said two full-time staff were laid off, along with two other employees who work there on an intermittent basis.
He says the plan is to reopen the site in September, barring an emergency or a source of new funds.