Council approves temporary washroom facilities in Saskatoon’s core

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Saskatoon city council voted unanimously to use a portion of a reserve fund set aside for unexpected expenses to provide as much as $700,000 to set up temporary washroom facilities in the Riversdale and Pleasant Hill neighbourhoods through the summer.

The decision is a response to the closure of a warming location at St. Mary’s Parish that had provided washroom access through the winter for people experiencing homelessness. The site’s closure meant there was effectively no publicly accessible washroom in the area after 6 p.m.

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Pamela Goulden McLeod, the city’s director of emergency management, noted there is a particularly urgent need for washroom facilities in these core neighbourhoods, since firefighter encounter by far the most homeless encampments in those areas.

Council has previously heard from business owners and residents expressing concerns about people urinating and defecating in public areas.

Goulden-McLeod told council she originally set out with the idea of tapping $100,000 in the current budget for improving public washroom access to rent portable toilets that would be moved to different locations on a weekly basis.

She said community groups involved in providing services to homeless people candidly told her this idea was “the worst plan ever brought forward for their consideration,” due to safety concerns associated with unstaffed facilities.

With that in mind, Goulden-McLeod recommended the city buy a used washroom trailer and contract staff to monitor it. She also advised staffing a washroom facility at a location near the riverbank, and continuing funding of misting stations and drinking water facilities during the warmer months.

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Altogether, the measures cost around $700,000. Goulden-McLeod stressed that this is a “worst-case” scenario, noting community agencies have expressed a willingness to partner with the city and potentially help reduce the costs.

Funding is to come from the reserve for capital expenditures, which is set aside for council to use in response to contingencies that arise during the budget cycle.

The washroom trailer is expected to be available within about a week, while the riverbank location is expected to begin operations sometime in June.

Several members of council lamented before the vote that the city was spending such a large sum for a temporary solution, while urging staff to continue looking for permanent options.

Speaking before the council vote, Mayor Charlie Clark noted the proposal was both “not ideal” and expensive, but that it was the best option available in the face of an immediate need arising from the escalating crisis of homelessness; community service agencies have all reported large influxes of new people needing services.

Clark equated the measures to other emergency responses the city has undertaken, such as multi-million-dollar expenditures on emergency snow clearing in the wake of blizzards.

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