Leading Sask. provincial parties share plans to address homelessness crisis
The leaders of Saskatchewan’s two major political parties are sharing their plans to tackle the growing homelessness crisis.
In the province’s largest city, the number of people sleeping rough is on pace to more than double over last year, according to the Saskatoon Fire Department.
A recent report from the fire department shows 683 people were "inadequately housed" between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15 this year. Over all of 2023, they counted 366 people in the same category in Saskatoon.
In Regina, over 100 volunteers gathered to conduct a point-in-time count of the city’s unhoused population at the beginning of October. The last count, in 2021, identified 488 unhoused people in the Queen City. Last week, organizers told CTV News the number was likely much higher than what volunteers could count on any given night.
At a news conference in Kenaston on Friday, Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe said if re-elected, his party would focus on transitional housing to help get people into a more stable living situation.
“The goal isn't to fix the houses up and just have someone in them. There is a much broader conversation around how people will get into their own home and into a better opportunity in their community,” Moe said.
He said a Sask. Party government would also consider expanding the rent-to-own pilot program. The program was announced in mid-September. The pilot is set to take place in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood.
NDP leader Carla Beck said her party would restore government-owned housing units to increase the supply of affordable suites and pass legislation to limit how often and how much landlords can raise rent.
Beck would reverse Sask. Party changes to social assistance
Beck said an NDP government would also reverse changes made to the income assistance program, now known as Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS).
“People are finding themselves homeless or having to move because they simply can't afford the rent. The other piece of that was, reversing the changes to the SIS program, something that has exacerbated an already growing homelessness problem,” Beck said at a news conference in Saskatoon on Friday.
Prior to the implementation of the SIS program in 2019, the province would pay rent, utilities and damage deposits to a landlord on behalf of a recipient.
Currently, recipients can choose to receive the benefit directly or have the province pay bills on their behalf.
The Sask. Party says the changes allows people to manage their own money.
“We want to make sure that we're allowing individuals the opportunity to be able to manage the money that they are allocated by the government. If they need assistance, that is available through social services,” Sask. Party candidate Paul Merriman said at a press conference in Prince Albert on Thursday.
Beck said the former government should have listened to the concerns about its changes to the program, expressed widely over the last few years by non-profits, landlords and the province’s urban municipalities.
“We had everyone from anti-poverty activists to landlords predicting, unfortunately, exactly what happened, that we'd see a rise in homelessness, that we'd see people evicted. They went ahead anyways,” Beck told media in Regina on Thursday.
The fire department's statistics show homeless encampments were found in nearly every residential neighbourhood in Saskatoon this year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Olympian, veteran, first Canadian Indigenous police officer honoured in Belgium
Alex Decoteau didn’t live to see his 30th birthday, but what he accomplished in his 29 years of life was simply remarkable.
Here are new guidelines for preventing stroke, the nation's 4th biggest killer
The majority of strokes could be prevented, according to new guidelines aimed at helping people and their doctors do just that.
Lawyers allege foreign interference in high-profile Canadian mafia deportation case
Lawyers for an alleged high-ranking member of the Italian Mafia in Toronto claim evidence is being used against him that is the product of foreign interference by Italian police.
Queen Camilla has a chest infection and will miss the U.K.'s annual Remembrance Sunday events
Queen Camilla will miss Britain's annual remembrance weekend events to honor fallen service personnel while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.
Decluttering your closet 'has to be easy,' here's how
Decluttering your closet can be an easy task when you follow the "one in, one out" rule according to an Ottawa specialist.
Haul out the holly! Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrives in New York City
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrived in New York City on Saturday, signaling the start of the holiday season in the Big Apple.
Super giant TVs are flying off store shelves
Televisions that measure 97 inches (and more) diagonally across – a.k.a. XXL TVs – are becoming a huge hit as the cost of giant screens sinks sharply, and viewers look to replace the screens they bought during the peak of the pandemic a few years ago.
U.K. police watchdog reviews handling of Mohamed Al Fayed sex crime allegations
Britain's police watchdog said is assessing complaints over how the police handled sex crime allegations against the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
Minivan and school bus collide in northeast Calgary intersection, causing bus to hit building
Calgary police are investigating a crash between a minivan and a school bus on Friday.