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Issues of safety and homelessness were some of the key issues Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block discussed with members of Saskatoon’s business community on Tuesday.
At the NSBA Saskatoon Business Association event at Prairieland Park, Block said safety concerns are “deeply” frustrating for elected officials, residents and businesses.
“As somebody who has sat on the Downtown Business Improvement District for many years and the Broadway Business Improvement District, I know I’ve seen those changes,” Block said.
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Pointing to budget deliberations next week, Block said the city is considering three options to help improve safety within the city, which include the possible addition of community support officers to ride city transit.
“Increasingly, it appears that they are at least one of the most important resources on the buses,” she said.
Block said the city could also look at adding more police instead of community officers.
“This has been a request of transit operators and transit users, and how can we make that altogether a (safer) place for everyone to be in our business districts and beyond,” Block said.
Finally, Block said the city can also consider the pilot project of adding Indigenous peacekeepers, which is a pilot project that would support the city’s downtown core.
Block said it would be a capital project with no mill rate impact and could provide an opportunity to support the overall security contingent in Saskatoon’s business district.
Block was also questioned about the possibility of adding a levy to address homelessness and housing-related issues.
The idea was floated by Block last month on the Evan Bray Show and was also mentioned in the city’s 2025 “Civic Satisfaction and Performance Survey,” which revealed that nearly four in five respondents said the city should allocate more resources to address homelessness.
“I had no idea this was in the civic satisfaction survey until that survey actually got released to us,” Block said, noting it was brought to council’s attention last week.
“It’s statistically relevant that 63 per cent of people are okay with a homelessness levy,” Block said about the survey.
However, Block said she has no intentions of bringing forward the idea at this time.
“I think it is fair to say that we are unlikely to move anything forward quickly, and that we would want to take some time to fully understand,” she told reporters following the event.
“If and when that became something to consider, there would be a long runway to talk about that.”
Block said moving forward with the idea of a levy to address the issues of homelessness would require consultations with residents and the business community.
Block added that if the city were to pursue the idea, council would need to look at what it involves, how the funds would be used and how it would align with community needs.
The mayor said that the city has been working with the provincial government to support Saskatoon’s homeless community and through its partnership, three drop-in centers opened within the last year at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, Station 20 West and Avenue M.
