Regina homelessness advocates say they are seeing the most vulnerable die because there is a lack of support to help them.
Since Camp Hope was set up more than a year and a half ago, staff say there has been no significant change in the homelessness situation, that more people have died, and that the homeless problems in Regina continue to grow.
“We know we have lost quite a few from Camp Hope,” said Shylo Stevenson, houselessness advocate. “I have attended a lot of funerals well over 40 this year.”
Early this year, Regina Count had the number of people experiencing homelessness sitting around at 480. However, those numbers may have increased.
“But we are pretty sure that at the lower end we are seeing a lot of people being displaced from their living situations, even encampments that are on private property,” said Amanda Benesh, Carmichael Outreach development coordinator.
“I feel they are rising. I have yet to see anything that shows us that the numbers are getting lower. We’re still seeing the same amount of clients, if not more, sometimes day in and day out, here at Carmichael Outreach.”
Benesh thinks one of the reasons responsible for the homelessness situation is the lack of support for those dealing with addictions and mental and physical illness.
“I think there’s always room to do more. I think we’ve seen the intentions the city would like to make, and we’d like to see those intentions eventually come to fruition,” she said.
A Regina city councillor said they cannot tackle the homelessness issue in Regina alone – all three levels of government need to participate.
“We need the provincial government for a variety of reasons, as well as the feds, to actually advance a meaningful housing-first strategy and the Plan to End Homelessness that we unanimously agreed to years ago,” said Andrew Stevens, who represents Ward 3.
“What I would like … is for the province to finance and support the Plan to End Homelessness that we put on their desk years ago. Since then, the matters have simply gotten worse in terms of the scale.”
Stevenson echoes Coun. Stevens’ comment, but adds that the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program also needs to be reassessed.
“It’s just not working and now we’re seeing more and more families, not just individuals in addictions (and) becoming houseless,” said Stevenson.
“Our provincial government needs to step up a lot more and the city needs to be a stakeholder at that table … we need real resources, and we need to stop this ongoing battle over whose jurisdiction it is to solve a serious social crisis.”
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