15 hours Ago By Brody Langager
The City of Saskatoon is considering redefining its role in the Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan. A report to Wednesday’s city council meeting says the city’s involvement in addressing homelessness has been historically limited in scope. Administration was directed back in January to come up with an evaluation, and the city’s potential role in the new plan.
The Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan, created in 2024, has an executive council that includes representatives from the Saskatoon Tribal Council, Metis Nation-Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Housing Initiative Partnership and city administration. An advisory committee was also established in 2024 that includes roughly 30 organizations who provide guidance, support engagement and promote advocacy. The city listed a number of measures taken in response to homelessness, like affordable housing development, the extreme cold-weather emergency response plan, and the overdose outreach team.
The report also addressed the latest point-in-time homelessness count that was done in October. It found 1,499 people in the city didn’t have permanent shelter. Some additional highlights from that report, which is scheduled to drop in April, showed 315 children and 175 youth were included in that count.
The count found 32.8 per cent of respondents cited insufficient income as the major reason for housing loss. Roughly half of respondents reported welfare or social assistance as their source of income, and 82.
3 per cent report dealing with substance abuse issues. City administration said the city could add a range of potential roles to further support affordable housing and homelessness solutions. Three priorities were listed for the Saskatoon Housing Action Plan: increasing the affordable housing supply; addressing systemic barriers to prevent homelessness; and increasing and supporting community collaboration.
Some of the potential roles listed for the city, keeping those priorities in mind, include supporting the exploration of a community land trust, undertaking a feasibility study for a community navigation centre, and co-ordinating specific city-wide homelessness initiatives. The report said some of the actions in the Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan could be led by the city, but the city could also take a supportive and partnership role with other actions. It was noted that this was the first in a series of reports coming to council in 2025, with future reports including a finalized Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan, a proposed implementation plan for the city’s portion of the Saskatoon Homelessness Action Plan, and an affordable housing strategy report that will include a housing-needs assessment.
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