The Saskatoon Tribal Council will be adding more beds to their temporary wellness centre on First Avenue.

On Monday, Saskatoon City Council unanimously approved the Tribal Council’s request to utilize the second floor of the current space at 145 First Avenue as part of the shelter.

Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says they hope to use the space to offer arts and crafts during the day along with mental health supports.

“What we’re looking to expand upstairs is the people that really don’t have alcohol and drug addictions, they’re just strictly homeless and families. The reason why we want to do that is to basically keep them away from the negativity that we’ve seen.”

A city report says the expansion will cost the City of Saskatoon an additional $15,000 due increased utility costs.

The wellness centre, which opened its doors in December, has been turning about 8 to 12 people away at night.

City officials say some work has to be done to the HVAC system and electrical work has to be done to install more fire alarms to bring everything up to code before having people move into the second floor. That works is only expected to take a few days.

The facility originally opened with 50 beds but has been serving around 55 guests since the first few days of operation.

The lease on the temporary wellness centre is set expire on April 30th.