Sask. Housing Corporation vacant units spike from 1,193 to 3,161 over decade

Not only are there significantly more vacant SHC units in the Saskatchewan, there are 200 fewer units provincewide from 2012 to 2022

Published Jul 25, 2023 • 3 minute read

REGINA, SASK : July 25, 2023–Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck speaks at a podium beside NDP housing critic Meara Conway in front of a Saskatchewan Housing Corporation unit on Rae street to discuss the current housing issue on Tuesday, July 25, 2023 in Regina. KAYLE NEIS / Regina Leader-Post Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

In 10 years the number of vacant Saskatchewan Housing Corporation (SHC) units has more than doubled, according to documents obtained by the Saskatchewan NDP.

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Documents show in 2012 there were 17,720 total units in Saskatchewan, 1,193 of which were vacant. In 2022 there were 17,509 total units and 3,161 were vacant.

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Speaking Tuesday morning in front of a boarded-up SHC property in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood, Opposition leader Carla Beck said the issue might be particularly acute in Regina, but this affects the entire province.

“It’s clear in communities large and small that people need help,” said Beck.

Beck said this issue falls squarely on the shoulders of a government in its 17th year of power, and Premier Scott Moe.

“This is on him and his government and frankly, he should be ashamed. The solution is simple, get these people housed.”

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Gene Makowsky, minister of social services, said the government is investing in the units but said solving homelessness is not as easy as “handing over a key and thinking everything will be fine.”

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“We have to have a little more of a nuanced approach,” he said.

NDP housing critic Meara Conway speaks beside Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck in front of a Saskatchewan Housing Corporation unit on Rae Street to discuss the current housing issue on Tuesday, July 25, 2023 in Regina. KAYLE NEIS / Regina Leader-Post Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

As Regina deals with a tent encampment in front of city hall, with approximately 90 tents, the issue of housing and affordability is front and centre. Across Saskatchewan, there have also been alarm bells ringing as the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) has also called on the government to address the crisis of growing homelessness.

The Opposition highlighted vacancies in four communities in Saskatchewan. In Estevan 37 per cent of its 295 SHC units are empty, Meadow Lake has 29 per cent vacancy, The Battlefords 23 per cent vacancy across 629 units and in Prince Albert 17 per cent of its 934 units are empty.

But with a focus on Regina, documents show over 10 years the vacancy rate for senior social housing units in Regina increased from 2.26 per cent to 26.76 per cent, according to a release from the NDP. For family social housing units the vacancy rate spiked by 224 per cent, 5.98 per cent to 19.39 per cent.

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Overall, total vacancies in Regina SHC units over a decade increased 474 per cent.

“These are around a billion dollars of public assets that are being mismanaged,” said Beck.

NDP housing critic Meara Conway asked what it costs to maintain these units, saying the province is “squandering and neglecting a great public asset.”

Conway said there are hundreds of people on wait-lists and while several units are not tenable for people to live in, she called the current criteria not effective and needing to be re-examined.

“Get these people housed in these units. If it requires some level of supportive housing with some of them, fine, but there’s a lot of folks out there that can’t get affordable housing that don’t require supportive housing that can’t access these units,” said Conway.

Makowsky said the government spends around $75 million a year on maintenance and improvement of the units but many of the vacant units are not inhabitable. He did not offer a figure or per cent of inhabitable units.

“We spend a lot of money on keeping, on upgrading our units and some of them are used and unfortunately, some get destroyed by some tenants,” he said.

alsalloum@postmedia.com