Saskatoon city councillors held a special meeting Thursday morning to provide supportive rental housing for low-income families.
Five different organizations asked the city for help. Councillors on the planning and development committee did direct some funding towards the issue, but fell short of what the organizations requested.
“There wasn’t sufficient funding to provide a 10% grant to all of the organizations, so each one of them is receiving less than 10%, which all of them had qualified for,” said Lynne Lacroix, City of Saskatoon General Manager.
The standing policy committee on planning, development and community services recommended to the city council that:
- John Howard Society gets $108,000 for nine rental units,
- Oxford House get $25,000 for one supportive living unit with five bedrooms,
- Sasknative Rentals get $150,000 for 35 rental units,
- National Affordable Housing Corporation get $65,000 for five rental units,
- Summit Developments get a five year incremental tax abatement estimated to be $51,000 for nine rental units.
Saskatoons homeless population has struggled to find housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Global News reached out to the organizations for comment. The organizations did not respond by deadline.
The matter is set to come before city council for final approval at a later date.