Homelessness not just a municipal issue says NDP Shadow Minister for Housing during stop in Prince Albert

Herald File Photo

Filling vacant Sask Housing units would help take pressure of shelter services says NDP housing critic

Emokhare Paul Anthony

Daily Herald

Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Housing April Chiefcalf says the province needs to play a greater role in providing solutions to the issue of homelessness in Saskatchewan cities.

Chiefcalf was in Prince Albert on Thursday attending the City’s final homeless shelter consultation meeting at the PAGC Urban Services Building. Chiefcalf said she was impressed with the knowledge many Prince Albert residents brought to the issue, but said they shouldn’t have to find solutions on their own.

“It’s more than just providing funding. They need to be at the table as well to hear from people what the needs are in the community and also what people are doing, because there is a tremendous amount of expertise here—people who are on the front lines and know the needs of the community and have some solutions to the issues,” Chiefcalf said in an interview during a break in the meeting.

“It was interesting listening to the presentations, just to hear how different people in the community view the emergency shelter. Definitely there’s a sense that there’s a lot of support among people for the emergency shelter and it is needed in Prince Albert.”

An Enhanced Emergency Shelter is a 24-hour shelter for homeless residents. It provides a safe space to meet their basic needs, such as food, shelter, and hygiene. The shelter also supports mental health and addictions and includes access to positive activities such as life-skills programming. The shelter aims to help individuals find dignity, self-esteem, and long-term housing.

Chiefcalf said homelessness is obviously an issue that not just Prince Albert is facing. Saskatoon and Regina also having significant issues just from a provincial perspective.

The most recent point-in-time count in Regina should homelessness had quadrupled in the city since 2023.

“I think part of the problem is that things like cold weather, strategies shelters are issues seen as municipal issues and I think everybody plays a part in solutions to the problems, so I think the province does need to play a greater role,” said Chiefcalf.

Chiefcalf said there is a need for short-term and long-term solutions to the problem. While an emergency shelter is essential, she said there needs to be long-term planning to make more affordable housing available.

Ideally, Cheifcalf wants to see more effort put towards filling vacant Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units. In December 2024, provincial auditor Tara Clemett released a report saying there were nearly 534 vacant social housing units across the province. Clemett recommended Saskatchewan Housing improve how it tracks and analyzes vacant units to make sure the corporation can “get chronically vacant units back into service.”

“We have quite a bit of Saskatchewan Housing units in various cities that are empty. They need to be repaired and made available to people to rent,” Cheifcalf said. “We’re using money on the rent for those units, and then it’s costing a tremendous amount of money in the province to have warming centres, to have shelters, and we can actually save money. It’s costing money for emergency services to address people’s needs on the street, so we could actually save money if we could get some of those vacant housing units made available to people.”

Thursday’s meeting was the last of four public consultations. With the meetings over, the City of Prince Albert has invited residents and stakeholders to compete an online survey to help determine a permanent location.

The City of Prince Albert invites residents and stakeholders to complete a survey to help determine a permanent location for an Enhanced Emergency Shelter. The survey complements ongoing community consultation sessions being held across the city throughout January.

“We are trying to get as much input as possible from the community to inform this conversation,” said Anna Dinsdale, Community Safety and Well-Being Manager for the City of Prince Albert.

 “The attendance at the first three consultation workshops has been brilliant, and this survey is another way for us to gather feedback from those who are unable to attend or who have more that they would like to contribute.”

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