On precarious situations

Pamela Roth reports on the desperate shortage of housing in Regina and Saskatoon, leading to worsening homelessness problems in both cities. But the issue is all the more tragic given that both cities have made matters worse by contributing to the lack of rental housing:

According to a Salvation Army report on homelessness and poverty in Canada, Saskatchewan reported the highest rate of homelessness, with one in five respondents either experiencing or coming close to experiencing homelessness.

Delaney said the problem began to spiral out of control when the province began experiencing an economic boom a couple of years ago.

Housing prices and rent increased dramatically, she said, leaving those who weren't reaping the benefits of the boom out in the cold.
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Many apartment buildings in Regina and Saskatoon are also being turned into condos, which has a direct impact on rent prices and the availability of accommodation.

Saskatoon currently has a 1.9 per cent vacancy rate, while Regina is at 1.6 per cent. Delaney said anything below a five per cent vacancy rate means there is an inadequate supply of housing.

"In Regina, right now, housing is an industry and there is a lot of people making money on housing. Our government needs to take responsibility and inject money into it where necessary," said Delaney.

Unfortunately, it's tough to share Delaney's sense of optimism that any level of government will be interested in dealing with the problem: the municipal level has had the most direct involvement in exacerbating matters, while the Wall and Harper governments both combine an ideological aversion to dealing with social issues with self-inflicted budget messes which figure to rule out any substantial spending. Which means that the lack of housing in Saskatchewan's cities figures to get far worse before there's any realistic prospect of improvement.