There was good news to report in the monthly update of the Community Safety Program delivered to council Monday night.
That news, from City Manager Jim Puffalt, is the completion of the transitional housing project as well as word that there will be a homeless shelter opening in North Battleford this winter.
Getting a homeless shelter in place had been one of the most pressing priorities of the Community Safety Program, headed by Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton.
Puffalt told council an announcement of a homeless shelter would be made the first week of October.
The city manager was not willing to say much more than that, however, noting more details were yet to come.
"We just want to make sure people are aware that we've been working very hard on this for a long time," Puffalt told the media scrum, adding they were "glad to see some results coming out with the announcement in the next few weeks."
As for the long-awaited eight-unit transitional housing or "pocket housing" project on the 1300 block of 103rd Street, a grand opening is set for October.
"That's very exciting," Puffalt said. "I met with Sheldon Gattinger, the chair of that committee, and they're just excited to be able to open it and working hard on the program. As I said tonight, they have more applications than they possibly have room."
Puffalt had told council there had been 16 to 18 applications for the project, more than twice the number of spaces.
Puffalt told reporters the project was not only addressing a need in the community, but explained it is a transitional program that will allow residents to move on to other properties.
"The best part, of course, is that there's actually counseling and assistance for people moving in so they actually have a plan to get out, which is absolutely key. It's all wonderful and good to provide places for people, but with some counselling they can hopefully get out of there and find their own place to live … it's really hard to move forward if you don't have a safe place to live, and that's what this program's providing."
Given the interest and the number of applications already, the pocket housing committee has shown interest in going after other funding opportunities because of the need illustrated.
That is something the City is interested in as well. Mayor Ian Hamilton said there was sufficient property to possibly build another pocket housing building adjacent to the one just built.
"With a little bit of luck and applications going in, and the approval process being as it is we might see another unit that mirrors this complex in the near future," Hamilton said.
In addition to those initiatives, a number of other items were addressed in the report. One was the Battlefords Regional Opportunities Plan, which is in the early stages and has the objective of creating jobs and opportunities.
Puffalt reported the HUB is back to their normal schedule following the summer, with Sutton helping that group along with Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Steinborn and City Executive Assistant Corey Tye-Koopman. The HUB Steering Committee is co-chaired by RCMP Insp. John Sutherland.
As for crime prevention, Puffalt provided a further update on the work of the Community Safety Officers in the Enhanced Enforcement Pilot Program that was now in place.
Among those highlights were increased foot patrols and presence downtown and in malls and parks, with 53 hours 19 minutes devoted to that. There was increased vehicle presence and patrols, totalling 640 hours and 16 minutes. There was also increased patrol of high incident areas of the city, as well as increased school patrols from Sept. 2. CSOs spent 43 hours and 44 minutes, equaling 32 events, monitoring school zones during morning, lunch and afternoon periods through the week.
His report reiterated what had been mentioned the week before at municipal services committee about the impact on the RCMP. He said the program has allowed RCMP to divert two members over to the Street Crime Unit and that the proposed service level agreement with the RCMP, forwarded to F Division, will "allow substantial additional RCMP time to be diverted to serious crimes," Puffalt stated.
"I think we're seeing some really great results," Puffalt said at council, adding "what we're seeing are people coming together to try and solve some problems, not just put a band-aid on them."
