Meadow Lake city council has hit another home run as far as those behind the local emergency shelter are concerned. During the regular meeting of Meadow Lake city council held Monday evening (May 12), a motion was carried extending the operating permit for the temporary emergency shelter located at 215 1s St. East (behind the Meadow Lake Bakery) until Oct. 15 as requested by the Meadow Lake Homeplate Shelter Coalition Corp. “Earlier this year, council granted the Meadow Lake Homeplate Shelter Coalition Corp. an extension of its operating permit from April 15 to May 31, which allowed them to take advantage of available funding to keep the overnight shelter for homeless persons open through the spring,” explained interim city manager Neil Marsh in his official recommendation to council. “Their plan at that time was to close the shelter for the summer, with the hope of reopening in October.” Marsh went on to note Homeplate has since secured further funding and, as such, wishes to receive a further extension.

“They feel strongly continued operation will benefit those individuals who are working toward getting away from street life, and by extension this benefits the community as a whole,” he stated. “This is in keeping with information presented previously by the coalition, Meadow Lake Outreach Ministries, and echoed by other cities in Saskatchewan. Administration has also received the coalition’s application for a bylaw amendment aimed at updating the regulations of the zoning bylaw to better reflect the realities of homelessness in our community and the operational requirements of programs such as this.” The plan is to present this amendment to council for first reading by July.

Meanwhile, in a letter to council, Joanne Gislason of the Homeplate board of directors, said the shelter has been well utilized since council granted the initial extension. “We are hoping the current bylaw, allowing for a temporary shelter, will be changed and we will be able to open year-round,” Gislason wrote. She also said it costs about $30,000 per month to operate the shelter.

“Social Services has committed to year-round funding if we are able to get city approval,” Gislason continued. “We have received some funding through the federal government Reaching Home grant for 2025-26. Conversations continue to happen with potential funders. Individuals, churches and businesses continue to support our organization. Our organization continues to do fundraising.” The motion was brought to the table by councillor Marty Bishop and seconded by councillor Mauri Young. “I have no problems with this,” Bishop said. “I don’t think it’s impeding any of the bylaws we have, and I think it’s a good thing.” Young agreed. “I think it’s great they have been able to find some more funding,” she said. Councillor Conrad Read echoed this. “Ideally it would be nice if we didn’t have to permit this every three to six months, and if it could be open year-round,” Read said. “I don’t know what the new official community plan is going to look like for zoning in that particular area, but the big thing is the last report we had from (Homeplate) showed how many people in our city and in Saskatchewan are homeless. What’s even bigger is how to fund them. What this coalition is doing is a good thing.”