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The Lighthouse Supported Living shelter held a grand opening for a new wellness centre on Friday.
The centre will provide 38 beds for people who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but who don’t pose a security risk.
Lighthouse general manager Dave Thiessen said it was an emotional day for staff.
“I would have to say that I’m pretty excited about what the future has to hold for this facility in so many ways. I just see the opportunity for individuals to be treated with respect and dignity,” he said.
The new unit basically doubles the Lighthouse’s capacity to take in some of the city’s hardest-to-house people.
“Right now, we’re turning people away at night. And so when we’re turning people away, it means they don’t have a place to go. So we saw this as an opportunity to just provide people a place to lay down, catch some sleep and just recover,” he said.
Thiessen said that while the centre will handle some of people’s most immediate needs, there’s also the hope that it will provide a point of contact for people to get longer-term help.
“We have addictions counsellors on staff. We do have case workers as well that are working closely alongside. The partnership with our case workers, being in with our clients on a day-to-day basis is huge,” he said.
Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill was also present for the opening.
Long a backer for this type of facility, Weighill said the hope is that it will divert more people from the police holding cells, with the goal being to have no one using the cells as housing of last resort.
“That’s what we’ve been striving for as we’ve been working with the Lighthouse, to ensure that we have fewer and fewer people staying in police cells. Unfortunately, it still will happen. But, the fewer numbers that we have, the better off our city will be,” he said.
