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Regina soon will be getting a new permanent enhanced emergency shelter for women.
In a media release Wednesday, the Saskatchewan government announced it was providing $884,400 in funding to help the YWCA Regina open the 20-space shelter.
The Joan’s Place emergency shelter opened in a temporary location on Fifth Avenue last Friday. The City of Regina is trying to find a space that will be the shelter’s permanent location.
“The Ministry of Social Services supports vulnerable people in need of shelter by connecting them with community organizations that offer emergency shelter spaces,” Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky said in the release.
“Along with community partners, we are working to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and better support individuals who need more than a home to remain connected to housing.”
Enhanced shelters are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The government said people who stay at them get three meals per day, case planning and access to wrap-around supports, as well as assistance connecting to services for such things as financial support and transitioning to appropriate housing.
The YWCA was selected to run the new shelter in January through a request for service.
“YWCA Regina has been running emergency shelter beds for women and children experiencing homelessness in our community for over 15 years and we are looking forward to the new enhanced shelter spaces,” YWCA Regina chief executive officer Melissa Coomber-Bendtsen said in the release. “These spaces will provide vulnerable women in our community safety and wraparound trauma informed services.”
The funding comes from the Provincial Approach to Homelessness, a $40.2-million investment over the next two years that’s to create 155 new supportive housing spaces and 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces in the province.