High turnover cost adds to Saskatoon low-income housing vacancy rate: Sask. Housing

The Saskatchewan Housing Corporation opened the doors to four units on Tuesday, giving both an indication of how many low-income housing units in Saskatoon are vacant as well as the work that goes into maintaining the spaces.

President of the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation Louise Michaud says there is a 13 per cent vacancy rate in Saskatoon, or 310 total family and senior units.

“Some of them are in the process of being turned over,” Michaud said of the vacancies.

Homelessness has been an ongoing problem in Saskatoon, but Michaud says these social housing units are designed for people able to live more independently.

“When you're looking at people who are homeless and who have more complex needs that relate to addiction and mental health, we try to find opportunities to coordinate wraparound services so that we can see people successfully housed,” she said.

There are also specifications that some families are looking for.

“Although we have people that are looking for housing, they might not want to live in a specific neighbourhood where we have vacancies available at any given time,” she said.

“We might have small units available but we're waiting for units for a larger family.”

Michaud says tenants will pay 30 per cent of their pre-tax income.

The non-rent ready family unit shown to the media on Tuesday was in need of $10,000 in repairs.

“As you've seen today, depending on the amount of work it takes to get a unit rent-ready it might be vacant for either just a month, it might be vacant for a few months in order for repairs to be made in for it to have it brought back to rent ready,” she said.

The unit had been abandoned, which Michaud says doesn’t happen very often.

“Our main goal is to get people who are low-income housed, and housed appropriately and affordably,” she said.

“Those people would remain with a debt owing and we do take steps to collect those debts, but if those people, for example needed housing, we'd work with them on a repayment plan. We don't want to see families unhoused.”

During a tour on Monday in Regina, housing units had been broken into and had copper wire stolen, which Michaud says doesn’t happen as often in Saskatoon.

Approximately $1.3 million is dedicated to renovating and refreshing the 18,000 low-income housing units around Saskatchewan, and Michaud says the cost is generally spread evenly across the province.

“For tenant turnover the average cost to turn over a unit in in Saskatchewan is between $6,000 to $7,000,” she said.