Regina to receive $3.5 million from feds to help with homelessness

Regina is getting a financial boost to help tackle homelessness.

Mayor Chad Bachynski said Regina is getting $3.5 million from the federal government over the next two years to help fund existing programs designed to help the city’s homeless population.

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“There is a number of areas that are already budgeted in terms of things that would support our most vulnerable in our community,” the mayor explained. “We have things like the Regina Street Team, shelter operations, and things like that.”

Bachynski added that a chunk of money will “likely” go towards the permanent shelter site at the Eagles Club on Saskatchewan Drive, which is expected to open this summer.

Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski says residents can expect to hear more details during budget deliberations in March. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

He said the city is expecting to get the money soon from the feds.

“I don’t have an exact date, but it is on the way so we expect it any time now,” Bachynski said.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced a total of $8 million in additional funding for Saskatchewan’s two biggest cities over the next two years. The City of Saskatoon’s share adds up to nearly $4.5 million.

The announcement came after the feds decided to bypass the provincial government and give the money directly to the cities to address issues around homelessness and encampments.

Part of the deal is that the city has to match the amount of money the federal government is handing over, but Bachynski explained that it isn’t all new money.

“The nice thing about this funding is they actually allow us to allocate funding that was already allocated to programs, so it is not necessarily new funding that we have to put forward,” he said. “We can pin the existing funding to the $3.5 million over two years.”

Bachynski said residents will hear more details about where the money is going during the city’s budget deliberations in March.

“Administration already has a breakdown for a number of programs that already exist that we will be able to apply that funding to in short order as we lead into our budget,” the mayor said.

Bachynski’s comments come after a pair of tent fires broke out outside Carmichael Outreach in a two-day period.

“I think it highlights the importance of funding like this and programs that we are trying to put forward to continue helping people not have to live in those circumstances,” Bachynski said.