Saskatoon leaders grapple with how to address 'new level of homelessness'
Saskatoon city officials are working on a plan to accommodate the call from the community to set up temporary emergency shelters in the city, to help house the growing number of homeless people as winter nears.
But before any temporary emergency shelters can be set up, or before empty buildings can be converted into emergency shelters, the city needs to amend zoning bylaws and create a definition for emergency residential shelters.
In a report to the city’s planning, development and community services committee, city administration and the Saskatoon Fire Department looked at zoning bylaw adjustments and development permits to allow for the establishment of temporary emergency shelters.
Planning director Leslie Anderson said administration is still working through details but anticipates not allowing emergency shelters in low-density residential areas.
"But we also have to balance all of this with the fact that there are only certain types of buildings where this is going to be able to be accommodated," Anderson said to the committee. "So we need to try to build a reasonable response that can allow for a facility to be developed. What we don't want to do is put in the restrictions that will make it impossible to achieve this."
The city said it will be bringing forward recommendations to zoning bylaw changes and criteria for emergency shelters, which will need approval by city council at a public hearing later this month.
Cameron Choquette, CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlords’ Association addressed the committee on Monday explaining that the increase in visible homelessness in Saskatoon is in part due to a recent change in how social assistance is handed out to social assistance clients.
At the end of August, Choquette said, the province amalgamated its old social assistance program into one program called Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS), where direct payment to utility and rental providers was eliminated, and security deposits were scaled back to once every two years.
"What we've seen, and I think is important for the committee to consider today is, that the systemic changes are creating a new level of homelessness in Saskatoon and in our province," Choquette said.
He added the changes to income assistance have created a pile of rent arrears for social housing providers, leading to more evictions and more homeless people across Saskatchewan.
"We’ve seen increased encampments and we’ve seen increased homelessness in our city."
Mayor Charlie Clark said the city has a homelessness problem that has been growing for years and has only been exacerbated by the pandemic and the addictions crisis in Saskatoon.
"While we've been trying to put that fire out through a number of different initiatives … it has felt like the changes to the SIS program are really potentially adding fuel to that same fire that we're trying to put out and potentially driving more people into homelessness and it's at a time when it's getting cold," Clark said.
The administration report says that to be in the best position possible to accommodate requests for temporary emergency residential shelters, planning and development will submit a proposal to change the city's zoning rules to include a definition for emergency residential shelters and clear regulations for the application and renewal process to create such shelters.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING 120 active fires burning across Canada, 30 are 'out of control'
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
BREAKING Apple experiencing iMessage outage, Downdetector shows
Apple users are experiencing an iMessage outage, reporting issues with sending and receiving messages, Downdetector shows.
A Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her. His lawyers argue it wasn't murder
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
Father charged with second-degree murder in daughter's stabbing death southwest of Montreal
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
Trudeau calls New Brunswick's Conservative government a 'disgrace' on women's rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.
Kevin Spacey receives star support as he fights to get his career back
Kevin Spacey is pushing back on the 'rush to judgment' against him and is being backed by some big names as he seeks to reclaim his acting career.
Kidnapped by her father and kept in a crawl space: Court documents reveal Montreal horror story
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
He had dreams of running for Canada in the Olympics, then he learned his family would be deported
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum