A report presented during the city council committee meeting on Tuesday shows that the Saskatoon Fire Department has been using two fire inspectors to reach homeless individuals in the city. The city is addressing safety issues this way out of its own pocket, as the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services has been slow to address homelessness in the city.
The report shows that the Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) has been engaging with homeless individuals since November 2021 to reduce safety hazards to the community. The SFD says it is having success reaching homeless individuals and connecting them to services. The fire department aims to prevent situations like the University Bridge fire in June. The SFD says the strategy has been shown to reduce incidents.
According to the report, the SFD has been successful in engaging with individuals. Internal stats show that 80 per cent of people show a willingness to accept supports and 40 per cent have been rehoused.
However, the SFD notes that there has been an uptick in new unhoused individuals showing up on Saskatoon streets in 2023. The SFD says addictions and reluctance to accept housing or emergency shelter are compounding the current situation in Saskatoon.
While the report states that there are no financial implications, upon questioning by Coun. Darren Hill, the SFD said there is no funding for this program and two full-time fire inspectors are diverted from their regular duties to engage with homeless individuals. The SFD estimates the cost of the two inspectors is around $140,000 each year, plus the costs of administration, a vehicle and fuel. The SFD has agreed to give a full overview of the costs at the council meeting on Aug. 30.
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Coun. Hilary Gough called the initiative a creative way to do the work. The City of Saskatoon and its fire department are technically not authorized to house homeless individuals, as this is handled by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services. Only the ministry can provide housing to those living on the streets. That is why the city has resorted to trying to connect homeless individuals better with social services.
The diversion of the two fire inspectors has caused a backlog in property maintenance inspection tasks, such as those involving overgrown private lots and junk vehicles. The SFD has about 1,200 of those unfulfilled requests at the moment and the list has grown in the last few years.
Mayor Charlie Clark suggested pressuring the Ministry of Social Services with a letter from city council to point out the ministry’s responsibilities in this situation, noting that the number of encampments rose fivefold from 2021 to 2022, and 2023 is on track to overtake the 2022 number.
Cameron Choquette, chair of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, applauds the way the SFD is fighting homelessness using an individual-centred approach, but says the backlog in other tasks will cause problems in the long term as unmaintained lots can cause safety issues down the line.
To explain the rise in homelessness in the city in the last few years, he points to the province’s lacking Saskatchewan Income Support program. He adds that the policies from the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation are making it hard to help difficult-to-house people, despite the more than 700 vacant units in Saskatoon.
When asked for comment, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services said it works with community partners and all levels of government to address the complex issue of homelessness.
“The Ministry of Social Services supports people who are experiencing homelessness by connecting them to shelter and income supports… The ministry is also partnering with community-based organizations on the mobile workforce initiative, which places Income Assistance staff at their locations and helps clinets with complex needs to access services where they are.”
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