Saskatoon city councillor says homelessness is a provincial problem

Councillor Kirton on city budget, homelessness WATCH: Alex Brown speaks with David Kirton about the funding gap the city is facing, as well as the rise in homelessness.

Saskatoon Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton says the wellness centre in the Fairhaven area is not a long-term solution for homelessness in the city.

“It has created huge changes in the neighbourhood, as a matter of fact, I’ve publically stated that model of shelter is not sustainable in that or any neighbourhood,” Kirton told CTV Morning Live.

However, he said the issue was bigger than the city.

In 2019, the province stopped paying Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) money to landlords directly — a decision Kirton believes should be revisited.

“Nothing is going to change until the province makes some decisions that help these people. In other words, SIS needs to change. Landlords need to receive the money first. Utilities need to receive the money first. That’s how people are going to be housed," Kirton said.

Kirton said he’s heard firsthand that the number of people on Saskatoon's streets is growing.

“I have talked to the people in the fire department who go and talk to these people. They had established relationships on a first-name basis with people who are unhoused or people who are vulnerable to being unhoused," Kirton said.

"They are going out there now and they don’t know these people. So there are new people coming in. It’s a growing problem.”

He said more homes are needed to combat the issue.

“We have all those vacant houses sitting in Saskatoon, Regina, and other communities, that’s almost a crime that is happening," Kirton said, referencing the many Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units sitting empty in the province.

"So we need the province to make those changes otherwise nothing is going to change."

HIGHER COSTS UNAVOIDABLE

Kirton also touched on the financial pressures the city is facing as councillors work to close an estimated $51 million budget gap projected for next year.

Kirton said that as the city grows, higher costs are inevitable.

“When the city is growing it is pretty hard to grow (costs) zero,” Kirton told CTV Morning Live.

“We need that new fire hall and we need the crews to manage that fire hall, so, those are the kinds of costs that we just can’t avoid,” he said.

“The city is growing so transit needs to grow with it and those costs are something we have to bear as well.”

While city administration floated double-digit tax increases as a possibility earlier this year, Kirton said said he was hoping to see no more than a four per cent tax increase.

“The costs are pretty high at the beginning when you’ve got that growth,” he said.

“It starts to calm down over the course of the number of years as people pay those property taxes. Those upfront costs is what we’re facing.”