Olivia Grandy
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Saskatchewan’s official opposition is concerned about homeless numbers beyond anything previously recorded in Saskatoon.
NDP MLA for Saskatoon Nutana and municipal affair critic, Erika Ritchie, said Premier Scott Moe “is downloading all of his problems and expenses to municipal governments and local community organizations,” echoing a report staff brought to Saskatoon’s city council during this past week’s budget deliberations.
On Nov. 25, the City of Saskatoon reported that 1,931 individuals were experiencing homelessness in the city, based on an Oct. 16 point-in-time count.
That’s up by 432, or 29 per cent, from the 1,499 recorded just one year ago.
Since 2022, when 550 people were counted, the number of people experiencing homelessness has risen by 251 per cent. In 2018, a point-in-time count found that 475 people were experiencing homelessness.
According to the city, this year’s homeless count included 725 unsheltered people, 444 people in transitional homes, 327 people in emergency shelters, 237 people considered the “hidden homeless” who were either couch-surfing or in short-term rentals without secure tenure, 151 people living in encampments and 47 who lived in a health or correctional facility.
NDP talking point: City report
The city report “highlights key areas that have traditionally been the responsibility of the federal and provincial orders of government, but in recent years the City has had to take over or play a growing role in.”
These areas of responsibility include designating sufficient lands for school sites, housing, and responses to people experiencing homelessness.
Additionally, the report to council identified sources of “indirect downloading” included in the 2026 and 2027 budgets. These were encampment cleanup costs and funding for the city’s community support program and its transit security, which it “considered unreasonable financial burdens that are directly related to underfunding of social programs, namely addictions and mental health resources.”
Housing Critic MLA April ChiefCalf presented her party’s recently proposed Rent Control Act as a partial solution, which would connect rent increases to the Consumer Price Index, an indicator used to measure inflation.
“It’s those added pressures that are driving up the costs for municipalities that are then being placed on the property taxpayers,” Ritchie said.
“Our city is suffering under Premier Moe’s leadership.”
This criticism comes as Saskatoon’s city council finalized a mill rate increase of 6.7 per cent in 2026 and 5.81 per cent in 2027 after four days of budget talks.
City administration said this would equate to a monthly increase of $13.18 for a household worth $394,200 in 2026, and a $12.20 increase in 2027.
In response, Terry Jenson, the Minister of Social Services, pointed to a recently announced expansion of the Provincial Approach to Homelessness (PATH).
PATH launched in 2023 and allocated $40 million in support for homelessness.
Now, the province says it will invest up to $20 million over the next three years. This includes $12 million “specifically targeted to expand homelessness services by providing predictable multi-year funding to municipalities to support community-led priorities and strategies,” Jenson said in an emailed statement to the StarPhoenix.
Jenson said the province will also provide $24.3 million in government funding specifically for homelessness services in Saskatoon, which will support drop-in services and overnight warming spaces for men at St. Mary’s Parish and for women, temporarily in a downtown bus terminal and then permanently at 325 Avenue C South.
— With Saskatoon StarPhoenix files from Brody Langager and Dave Deibert
