'What are we doing today?': STC Chief wants immediate action on homelessness

A day after city council voted to commit more than $5 million to address homeless shelter and encampment concerns, Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand says current plans fall short of what’s needed.

“City council's gotta say 'What are we doing now today? What are we doing now today to serve 1500 people that are on the streets of Saskatoon? And the answer is zero. They haven't increased any beds," Arcand said.

Arcand took a break from a staff luncheon to hold a news conference Friday afternoon, where he took up several concerns after a point in time homelessness account conducted by multiple community organizations and over 200 volunteers in October and released on Thursday revealed there are 1,499 homeless people in the city, which is roughly the population of Langham.

The last homeless count happened in 2022, listing 550 people. Arcand says with a near tripling in homelessness, the city can’t afford any more delays or a lack of urgency.

“What’s going to happen in the summertime? People are going to camp outside along the river (and) everything else. So, the thinking here is offside. There's no proactive thinking of immediate response today of the crisis we're in. And that's the problem," Arcand said.

On Thursday, the city voted to proceed with an application to access $4.4 million of federal funding, with a matching commitment from the city, to create a homeless encampment plan which could see a permanent shelter, supportive housing and additional warm up locations as part of a six-phase plan.

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Mayor Cynthia Block spoke about the need for proactive thinking, rather than reactive.

"Proactive would mean ensuring that we have that wide angle lens and that full ability to move forward with a coordinated plan in our city," she said. "But we will require partnership from community, from other orders of government, and certainly from the province to make that work."

Rather than work with the province, who is responsible for social welfare, the city is working directly with Ottawa. According to a report before councillors Thursday, administration said the rapid development of the plan affected the province's commitment.

"Given the urgency, timing, and the preliminary nature of the proposal, it is challenging for the province to commit to ongoing funding for this proposal," the report said.

"I hate when lines get blurred and I don't like the aspect that the federal government is overshooting the provincial government," Ward 2 Coun. Rob Pearce said. "I don't like the fact that the province isn't doing their responsibilities as far as they should be."

And despite having no commitment from the province just yet, the city also voted to increase spending for a downtown shelter by $360,000 for a variety of renovations before it’s handed over to the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation when construction is complete.

Construction is expected to be completed in March.

Arcand says he will take up his concerns with the province. According to him, the city needs to stop voting through spending that should be on the province's finances while arguing about jurisdiction.

“And that's a problem. The city council is rolling over to the province. I don't rule over to the province. I have hard discussions, I have good relationships," Arcand said.

"We need them to have a different approach in regards to doing that and saying they have to listen to our demands as a city because we're in crisis.”

The province said because of the recent provincial election the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation has been unable to confirm any further funding as conversations continue, despite the provincial election being more than two weeks earlier than the civic election.

Arcand says push back and immediate assistance is needed to prevent more people from becoming homeless.