Legislative change looking to reduce number of dilapidated homes in Saskatchewan

Amended legislation introduced this week aims to address abandoned and dilapidated properties across the province.

On Wednesday, the province announced changes to The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) act which will allow SCAN officers to apply for court orders to have nuisance property owners forfeit the property or have them repaired as a way of reducing nuisance properties and making them livable again.

David Fineday has spent many years in Saskatoon advocating for many social issues. The Pleasant Hill Community Association has watched for years as more homes in the neighbourhood fall into disrepair, eventually becoming boarded up and a home to a variety of crimes.

“Lots of them get broken into, and they get used for meth houses or flop houses,” Fineday said. “People get sick in them. You never know what happened in there. People get shot or killed. They're unsafe.”

Prior to Wednesday’s announced changes, SCAN officers needed a complaint to be filed before any action could be taken. The changes will also help address graffiti and trafficking of stolen property through “the community safety order process,” a provincial news release said.

“Allowing SCAN officers to actively respond to nuisance or dilapidated properties, rather than waiting for a complaint to be submitted, will address immediate safety concerns and enable SCAN to assist municipalities in creating safe, thriving communities across Saskatchewan,” Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod said in the release.

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Rental Housing Saskatchewan, formerly the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, says landlords and municipalities have been noticing a recent trend of more complaints of nuisance properties and additional property maintenance complaints.

CEO Cam Choquette says he’s been in conversations with a number of municipalities about targeted enforcement, but Wednesday’s changes will help confront the problem. However, he would like to see more help sent to municipalities.

“SCAN officers are under resourced currently,” he said. “They have communities across the province they need to tend to, so we’d like to see more resources so they can enforce their property maintenance bylaw.”

Saskatoon’s city council answered the call by voting to approve two new bylaw enforcement officers during 2025 budget deliberations this past week. The bylaw officers are specifically tasked to address safety concerns after the fire department reported a backlog of roughly 4,000 property maintenance complaints.

SCAN officers are stationed in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert, but they investigate complaints across the province.

While larges centres like Regina and Saskatoon have bylaw enforcement teams, many smaller cities, towns and villages do not.

“If we can target SCAN officers and resources to communities who don't have big by law enforcement teams, I think we're going to get more bang for our buck there,” Choquette said.

The province is spending $2.7 million to hire more scan officers in the next two years to make a dent in the number of boarded up homes.

Fineday has seen more boarded up homes in the last few years, and he’s happy to see the province address an issue he’s spent years trying to bring attention towards.

"Let's do it right now,” he said of his eagerness to begin reforming homes in his neighbourhood. “And then move a good family in there, move the right supports in there for that family and have continuous support."