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With a growing number of encampments in Saskatchewan and overnight temperatures nearing freezing, the Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the government to address the province’s housing and affordability crisis.
The NDP is calling for real investment in affordable and supportive housing and meaningful action to bring skyrocketing rents under control and address increasing homelessness.
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A large encampment is located south of Prince Albert’s city limits off of 48th Street. Local business representatives in the area who talked to paNOW said there have been no immediate issues, but they do have concerns about what will happen when temperatures drop and the homeless people living there start to build fires to keep warm.
Tyrel Tait, reeve of the RM of Prince Albert, confirmed the municipality is aware of safety concerns raised by residents and businesses in the vicinity of the encampment.
“The RM is working closely with the landowner and the RCMP to better understand the situation and identify an appropriate path forward,” he said.
(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)
Tait said the safety and well-being of everyone involved — including rural residents, businesses, visitors and those staying at the encampment — remains the RM’s highest priority.
“At this time, the RM does not have a specific bylaw or policy in place to address homelessness. Council’s decisions regarding this situation, as with all matters before the RM, are guided by its commitment to the safety of rural residents and everyone who visits or conducts business within the municipality,” he said.
April ChiefCalf, the Saskatchewan NDP’s housing critic, said she is familiar with the homeless encampments in Prince Albert.
(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)
ChiefCalf said for years, community organizations, municipalities and workers have been sounding the alarm, but Premier Scott Moe and the Sask. Party have failed to meet the scale of the crisis. She said a lot of the problem can be traced back to the cost of housing just being too expensive.
“There were some folks in one of the encampments where they have full-time jobs, but their job just doesn’t provide enough money that they can afford to pay rent,” she said.
ChiefCalf is travelling across northern Saskatchewan this week, and said another problem she’s seeing is a complete lack of social housing.
“We know there are communities in the north where their regional housing authority doesn’t have the money to repair houses, so they are sitting there empty when there are families that could be in those houses,” she said.
paNOW has reached out to the provincial government for comment.
