Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said 2022 was a year of change for the city, as it worked towards building community back up from COVID-19 restrictions and addressing homelessness.
In a year-end interview with CTV News, Masters said there were several advancements in the social and economic side over the course of the year, with the addition of the catalyst committee and large events in the city helping to boost tourism.
Masters said in November alone, the economic impact for the City of Regina was over $100 million.
In terms of city projects, she is looking forward to several coming to fruition and creating opportunities to see the community grow.
ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS
Masters said it has been a good year of advancement overall, with things improving on the economic side, thanks to community events impacting Regina’s hospitality and tourism industry.
“Bringing in events, just in the month of November alone, the economic impact for the City of Regina was in excess of $100 million. That actually supports businesses, it supports employment, and the quality of life,” she said.
While COVID-19 restrictions were still out in full force in 2021, this year was a time for rebuilding the community, according to Masters.
“I think what you saw in 2022 was community getting back out and active at events,” she said.
“The Regina Folk Festival was back, Shake the Lake was sold out, the RCMP heritage museum was able to take more visitors, the Science Centre was fully active again, Grey Cup, Agribition, QCX, we hosted the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference.”
She said the City of Regina has been successful in hosting winter events this year, including the first ever Frost Festival in February.
“The ability to activate during the winter becomes more and more important, especially from a tourism perspective, from the hospitality industry, but really, those events put us on the national stage,” she said. “Winter is way too long not to do these things, to bring community together.”
HOMELESSNESS
Masters said the city has had some successes this year by bringing on more affordable housing units than ever.
“I think that we have now 24 supportive housing units, funded by the province, where folks are receiving 24 hour care, who are no longer on the street, they’re actually being cared for and they’re safe and stabilized,” she said.
Another 29 units are under construction as well, according to Masters, with funding from the federal government.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to receive the money and to receive these programs,” she said.
“Anytime you can bring on a couple dozen affordable units, you’re just helping to put a dent in either preventing homelessness or actually serving those that need the wraparound supports,” she said.
Masters said in order to address the issue, the City of Regina needs to work with different levels of government in terms of what the city’s unique needs are, relative to the city’s homeless population.
“Really getting back to the levels of government that provide those services so that we can continue on a person by person basis, actually making some improvements in lives here,” she said.
She said affordability of rental units is important to keep people from experiencing homelessness.
“Once homeless, we have a part to play in both neighbourhood development, if we have vacant houses that could be occupied, but folks don’t want to live there,” she said.
“The city also plays a part in collecting the data and understanding why people are not accessing the services available to them,” Masters said. “Or if they can access the services, what are their needs once they’re in housing, whether that’s for mental health, or for substance disorder, or for training, skills, development, those types of things.”
There are six areas of focus that were created as part of the Community Safety and Well-Being entity, which will kick off when an executive director is hired to carry out some of the plans, according to Masters.
“There’s been things advancing on the social side,” she said.
“Both current, kind of crisis needs but also that kind of upstream where we can prevent occurrences of people experiencing food insecurity, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, those types of thing.”
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“I think where we really play well as a city is collecting information and data, and coordinating the different levels of government and community based organizations (CBOs) in terms of delivering to the specific needs of our vulnerable community,” she said.
SOCIAL IMPROVEMENTS
Masters said community based organizations (CBOs) this year have been outstanding in doing their part to make more of a presence in the city and address some of the need.
“The Food Bank recognized that their location up on Winnipeg Street, while great for warehousing and receiving bulk food, it’s not overly accessible for individuals, say, without cars,” she said.
She said it is beneficial to have something on Broad Street, which is on the transit route, adjacent to a neighbourhood.
“Even the concept of a grocery style where folks can go in and actually choose in a smaller quantity the food that they want to cook that night or that week, based upon personal preferences, family preferences, or cultural preferences, is enormously important,” she said.
CITY PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
In terms of city projects and initiatives, Masters said she is looking forward to several coming to fruition, including the Cargill building, canola crush facility, and the YWCA’s Centre for Women and Families.
“That is going to be an incredible facility for women and children in our community,” she said.
Masters said she is starting to see revitalization take place in downtown Regina.
“You look at some of the heritage incentive funding that’s been made available, and so we’ve got multi millions of dollars being invested in current residential infrastructure downtown.”
She said council has approved a core incentive package where anybody looking to build or revitalize in the city centre can receive property abatements.
“Honestly, I think with the YWCA going forward, I’m very hopeful about the Infrastructure Canada money coming through for approval for an aquatic centre so that development can get underway,” she said.
Masters said in terms of the results from the Catalyst Committee on a number of projects, there is a deadline of March 31 for Infrastructure Canada.
“Clearly we need both levels of government to participate with us,” she said. “We by no means can afford even one of these facilities on our own, and just to stage them out and give some certainty to the community that planning is underway.”
Masters said her vision for Regina is to create opportunities for young people to have jobs and see a future in the city.
“Anytime we can add to our tax base, it actually just puts more money into, from a commercial perspective, puts more money into our revenue stream here at the city so that residential tax rates don’t have to go up to offset the needs of the growing needs of the community.”
-- With files from CTV News Regina’s Cole Davenport
