Saskatchewan opposition calls for suspension of housing program
Global News
The Saskatchewan NDP says the province's income support program is driving evictions and homelessness in Saskatchewan.
“We are currently facing a crisis.”
Those words were uttered by Saskatchewan NDP Regina Elphinstone-Centre MLA Meara Conway on Tuesday morning at an event in Regina regarding the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program.
Standing near a group of tents pitched in Regina’s Pepsi Park east of downtown, Conway said she wrote a letter to Minister of Social Services Lori Carr to call on the provincial government to suspend the program and return to a direct payment model for housing and utilities.
The New Democrats are also requesting increases to payment amounts which better reflect cost of living in the province and a working roundtable to create a comprehensive housing strategy to connect people with supports and shelter before the winter months.
Members of the NDP say this is in light of increasing rental arrears, evictions and homelessness among SIS clients.
“I want to emphasize this is a crisis of the government’s own making,” stated Conway at Tuesday’s event in Pepsi Park in Regina.
“This was a slow-moving car crash that everyone around me has been warning the government about since 2019.”
Conway admitted she is getting calls every day about concerns from people in her constituency being impacted by issues surrounding the program.