"Homeless by a Wall" by garryknight is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Saskatoon’s Mayor says the results of the Point in Time Homelessness Count that was conducted in October uncover some systemic failures.
Cynthia Block says in 2024, volunteers identified about 1500 homeless people in the city, up from 500 in 2022. The recent count indicates that 80.7 per cent of Saskatoon’s homeless population is Indigenous, meanwhile only 12 per cent of Saskatoon’s total population shares that ancestry.
“I can’t believe it was just yesterday that we were raising the reconciliation flag, and today we’re talking about failure. Systemic failure.”
Saskatoon Tribal Council Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says he’s not surprised with the report’s results.
“We have to change the system. We have to have partners and people that are willing to roll up their sleeves and have the tough discussions. In my personal opinion, we have to have Indigenous led for Indigenous people.”
The City’s Key Findings and Highlights report, compiled with help from the University of Saskatchewan, the Community-University Institute for Social Research, and the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership, also reveals that there are about 315 homeless children in the city, up from 26 reported in 2022.
“Unless or until people have housing, have a home, have those wraparound supports, this isn’t going to change,” Block stated.
According to the report, the main reported causes of homelessness are eviction and insufficient income.
“Reports like this are actually helpful,” Block continued. “It does help us understand what the real problem is. It does help us understand that we may need to pivot in order to achieve what is necessary.”
Over 70 per cent of those surveyed came to Saskatoon from another location in the province. Just over 82 per cent reported dealing with a substance abuse issue, and 60 per cent reported having a mental health issue. When it comes to solutions, 88 per cent of the homeless population says more money would get them out of their situation, and 81 per cent believe assistance in finding affordable housing would do the trick.
“Foundationally, we need to work better among other orders of government, because municipalities are on the front lines of homelessness, but we do not have all the tools to solve it,” Block admitted.
Moving forward, the City will continue work on the Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan, establish a drop-in centre to give people somewhere to go during the summer months, and establish 756 new affordable housing units through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund Program.
