The homeless shelter stayed open until the end of April this year. It typically ends by March 31. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

homelessness

La Ronge homeless shelter strikes multi-year deal with feds, set to open earlier this fall

Apr 26, 2022 | 2:00 PM

Although the homeless shelter Extended Hours Program in La Ronge will close on Thursday until next fall, a new two-year contract will keep the service in operation until at least 2024.

“It was very nice to get a multi-year contract and to have this all of this in place,” Kikinahk Friendship Centre executive director Ron Woytowich said. “Our biggest problem every year has been finding staff and the people who are willing to work with that population. Our funding for next winter is $18 per hour. Those very same people who are already trained and know the population can have their jobs back.”

It has been a rocky couple of years for the Kikihahk’s Extended House Program as Woytowich had difficulty finding the space to operate it for a variety of reasons. Traditionally, it was housed out of the Scattered Site building downtown La Ronge, but in 2020-2021 it was ran mostly out of Drifts Motel, and in 2021-2022, it was located in a building on-reserve near Kitsaki Hall.

Woytowich was able to secure federal funding to renovate the Scattered Site building at the cost of $60,000 to $70,000. Work was supposed to be done in February, but it is still not complete due to COVID and supply chain issues.

Woytowich confirmed, however, it will be operated out of Scattered Site again next season and will have an even earlier start date.

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“This contract we had all of April and then being closed until the first Monday in October,” he said. “Every other year has been around Nov. 15 or Dec. 1. What I told the government is we would do our best to be open by Oct. 15, but if we could be open Oct. 3 we would.”

Another organization called Tri-Community Homeless Shelter Inc., which has no affiliation with the Extended Hours Program, continues to seek funding to operate a homeless shelter. The Village of Air Ronge provided them with a one-time grant of $7,500 and the Town of La Ronge gave an additional $7,500. The Lac La Ronge Indian Band was also asked to provide funding.

The funds are meant to be used to hire an employee or consultant to achieve operation status. larongeNOW reached out to multiple directors of Tri-Community Homeless Shelter Inc., who have so far denied all interview requests about their plans.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno