Emergency indoor shelter to replace Camp Hope set to open Monday

The residents of Camp Hope are to have a roof over their heads starting Monday.

Regina Treaty/Status Indian Services (RTSIS) is teaming up with the City of Regina and the Government of Saskatchewan to open an emergency indoor shelter to replace the outdoor camp for the homeless.

The camp — formerly known as Camp Marjorie — has been operating in Core Community Park. The indoor shelter is to open Monday at 10 a.m.

Gavin Siggelkow, who has called the camp home since its inception in mid-October, believes the indoor shelter is a step in the right direction.

“It’s a starting point. At least we are moving,” he said. “It’ll be a good starting point for sure.”

The indoor shelter is somewhere on Hamilton Street, but its exact location wasn’t made public.

“Forty beds at this new emergency shelter will provide current camp residents and others who need shelter with a safe, warm alternative to their outdoor tents or circumstances, and access to other support services,” Erica Beaudin, the executive director of RTSIS, said in a media release.

“Over the next few days, RTSIS will be on site at the outdoor camp, to work one-on-one with residents, as we plan for a successful transition from the dangerously cold conditions of the outdoor camp into the warmth of the emergency shelter.”

The city signed a lease with the private owner of the building where the shelter is to be housed earlier this week.

“Since then, the city has been working to ensure the space meets all fire and life/health safety requirement and the appropriate amenities are in place to meet the needs of an emergency shelter,” Mayor Sandra Masters said during a media conference.

Masters said the city is pleased with the partnership with RTSIS to run the facility, and she understands the solutions need to be Indigenous-led for them to be successful and for respect to be shown to the people experiencing homelessness.

“I can’t express how appreciative we are in terms of their stepping up to operate the facility,” Masters said of RTSIS.

The city is paying for the lease of the building and maintenance, costing about $16,000 a month for the next six months. The provincial government is providing up to $500,000 in funding to RTSIS.

City manager Chris Holden said getting the facility together may have taken longer than the city would like, but between finding the right place, an owner willing to allow their building to be used like this, and renovations, this is just how long it took.

The shelter is set for the next six months through the winter, but Holden said the partnerships and conversations will continue.

“There is really, I think, a renewed commitment and a renewed approach in terms of organizations coming together,” said Holden.

Holden said this is a community approach and it will take a community effort to be really successful in dealing with homelessness.

“It is a very complicated issue. It is not going to be solved within weeks. This is a long-term commitment that partners are making around the table to look at a solution to address homelessness and address the issues that are facing the individuals that, for the most part right now, are in Camp Hope,” explained Holden.

While there are estimated to be between 100 and 150 people staying at Camp Hope, the shelter only has 40 beds. Beaudin said RTSIS will continue to work with other partners and shelters to find those people homes.

The deal with the city was that when an indoor space was found, the camp would be taken down. So the decommissioning of Camp Hope will begin on Monday.

Residents ‘unsure’ if city will follow through

As much as Siggelkow is hopeful for Monday, he is worried about getting his hopes up.

Camp Hope resident Gavin Siggelkow on Nov. 12, 2021. (Logan Stein/980 CJME)

“Does it really happen on Monday? Does anybody from this camp go to that building because of all the parameters that are going to be put on them — you know, the rules that they will work with?” Siggelkow asked. “We’ll see it when it happens.

“Just because of all the different days I’ve already heard for the last two weeks, I don’t really have a lot of confidence in it.”

He says people at the camp are starting to get restless and anxious as they deal with the cold.

“I think the fire department and police are getting frustrated as well,” Siggelkow said. “This morning, a buddy had a frying pan full of hot coals in his tent using it for heat and he burnt his tent down. It was our first big fire.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and Logan Stein