Brody Langager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
A more in-depth break down of Saskatoon’s most recent point-in-time homelessness count highlights the likelihood that the the count is imperfect.
“We know we’re missing people,” said Leslie Anderson, the city’s director of planning and development.
The count, done on Oct. 16, found that 1,931 people in the city were experiencing homelessness — an increase of 432 people, or 29 per cent, from the 1,499 recorded the year before.
The 2025 count recorded 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.
Anderson said eviction and insufficient income were the main factors contributing to homelessness numbers.
The counts have been done sporadically over the years, with more consistency recently. There were 260 people considered homeless in Saskatoon when the first point-in-time count was done back in 2008.
Not a perfect count
The most recent point-in-time count wasn’t as in depth as the 2024 count. Anderson said there was a shorter list of questions for the people polled, noting the next full-length count will be done in 2027, and for every three years after that.
She spoke about the 2022 count, where 550 people were counted, saying that was likely a significant undercount. They struggled to get people to volunteer to do the work, she said.
The city teams up with Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) to conduct the count, which involves more than 250 volunteers.
Anderson called the count a “snapshot in time” to get a better understanding of the current landscape in Saskatoon.
The process follows federal government guidelines, which makes the count standardized and comparable between communities.
The study area for the count doesn’t encompass the entire city, but stretches from downtown and Riversdale into areas like Confederation Park, Exhibition, Varsity View, some stretches along Eighth Street, as well as a small section of Central Avenue by the railyard.
Anderson said the numbers drive the discussion over how urgently the community needs to respond to the situation.
Many community partners, like the Salvation Army and Saskatoon Tribal Council, are reliant on government funding. And a lot of what Anderson spoke about involved partnership with the provincial government.
Speaking in Saskatoon last week, Premier Scott Moe noted that people can expect a deficit in the upcoming budget on March 18.
Anderson was asked if there were concerns about falling backwards in the work to address homelessness with this deficit. She didn’t provide an answer.
She said on top of doing the frontline work, community partners also have to apply for grants from different levels of government and work within the funding streams.
“If we don’t provide services of some type for people to meet their basic needs that’s where we start to see more issues.”
Anderson said there are about 298 permits issued for affordable housing in Saskatoon, noting some are far along in their construction, while others are still getting started.
While the city said it doesn’t do housing development directly, Anderson said housing providers are interested in repair and renovation projects, and the city is considering that in their incentive funding.
She said there has been a lot of work in recent years to get more affordable housing in the city.
“Without new affordable housing, we will have a lot of people that will continue to experience the stress and precariousness of not being able to meet their housing needs.”
The unhoused demographic
The report said 27.2 per cent of the people counted have been in Saskatoon for five years or less.
“We do know we’re a hub for various services for all kinds of people,” Anderson said.
The report also showed that 69.3 per cent of the people counted were over the age of 25, 1.7 per cent were over the age of 65, 11.7 per cent were under the age of 24 and 12.3 per cent were under the age of 12.
It added that the rate of homelessness in Saskatoon is now 6.1 people for every 1,000 residents.
While 53.2 per cent of the people counted were male, 45.5 per cent were female and 1.3 per cent were gender diverse. About 82.9 per cent of the people counted identified as Indigenous.
“This persistent over-representation reflects systemic inequities that require targeted solutions,” the report said.
