This is a question that we get asked a lot. We provide shelter and support for the homeless through several of our programs, helping women, men, youth, and children. Our programs provide temporary crisis shelter for those facing emergency, medium-term transitional housing for those needing to get on their feet, and long-term supportive housing that provides a stable living environment for those with higher needs. We also have programs to assist immigrants, refugees, and newcomers to the Prince Albert area.

YWCA Prince Albert is a nonprofit organization and a registered charity (BN: 131814790RR0001). We exist to provide services to the community without charging to make a profit from these activities.

Although many people have only heard of a few of our programs, we actually have many program areas that serve a variety of different purposes.

Central Avenue: shelter for women and youth in crisis or transition.

Our House: shelter and transitional housing for women and addictions and mental health programming for individuals of all genders.

Youth Homes: long-term housing for youth in a supportive, home-like environment.

Rendalyn Home: long-term housing for youth who are pregnant or who have young children and are still in school.

Phoenix Place: transitional housing for youth aging out of care that require supports to transition into living independently as adults.

Homeward Bound: a housing first program that provides long-term supportive and transitional housing for women and men.

Homeward Bound Oakdale: this program provides medium-level support to youth with cognitive disabilities aging out of care.

Damon’s Haven: provides long-term housing and support for individuals with cognitive disabilities that require a high level of support.

Kindred Spirit: this program is for parents trying to keep their children from care or trying to re-obtain their children from care.

Settlement Services: our program that works with Government Assisted Refugees to help them settle into Canada, learn English, and get on their feet.

Community Connection Centre: a service centre that helps immigrants, newcomers to the area, job seekers, home-seekers, and more to obtain the services that they need.

While YWCAs and YMCAs are related organizations, we typically provide different services based on the needs of our communities. YMCAs have more of a focus on fitness, while YWCAs focus on women’s advocacy, women’s issues, and a variety of other women-centered programming.

While many YWCAs across the world strictly focus on services for women, we in Prince Albert have filled service gaps in our community. There are very few services in Prince Albert for men facing homelessness, and those that do exist are mostly YWCA Prince Albert programs. Larger centers like Toronto tend to have a wide variety of organizations dealing with different missions, but in Prince Albert we do not have this variety. Therefore we focus on ending homelessness by providing programming for women and men.

Shelter and Services can be requested by phoning the program; the exception is the Our House Supportive Recovery Centre Pre-Treatment and Post-Treatment program, which has an online referral form located on the program page. All relevant contact information is located on the “Contact Us” page.