Time is running out for The Lighthouse’s 24-hour stabilization unit.

Money from a private donor that has been keeping the unit operating 24 hours a day is set to run out at the end of next month and officials at the non-profit are worried, with recent cuts and provincial funding changes, the unit will be left underfunded without another significant donation.

“There’s still a need, but who should be paying for it and how? Right now we’re hoping that the public will step up,” Lighthouse executive director Don Windels said.

The stabilization unit provides shelter to people who are under the influence of drugs and alcohol but don’t need medical attention. It is better suited than police cells for some people on the streets, according to Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill.

The unit opened in 2013 and had operated 24 hours a day up until last year, when funding cuts in February led The Lighthouse to reduce daytime hours at the stabilization unit.

The cuts were followed by changes to the provincial funding formula in September, when the government announced it would no longer fund Lighthouse clients not registered with social services as homeless or not qualified under social services.

“They were funding everyone that was staying at the shelter,” Windel said. “But then (the province), with their auditor, said they couldn’t double fund and, so, a lot of people that were previously funded, were no longer funded.”

Employees at the unit briefly turned away some clients, according to Windel, until a winter storm hit the city.

“For a while we actually did turn away people who weren’t funded,” he said.

“We said ‘Okay, this is what the impact is going to be. If we turn all these people away, this is what it’s going to look like.’ And there was a lot of people out on the streets. That’s when that snow storm hit and I just thought, ‘Well we can’t continue this. We just can’t.’”

Two-hundred-and-fifty more intoxicated people were held in police cells last year compared to 2015, when The Lighthouse stabilization unit was open full time.

Windels said downtown businesses felt the impact and some even approached The Lighthouse about returning to all-day hours.

The unit has since returned to 24-hour-a-day operation, thanks to private funding, but Windels is worried about the unit’s future without new support from the public or improvements to the provincial funding model.

He said The Lighthouse is working closely with social services to improve individual funding and allow more people to qualify for stays at the stabilization unit.