NDP, organizations, people call on government to ‘fix’ social assistance

A small group of six tents takes up a portion of Regina’s Pepsi Park these days, a home for people who have nowhere else to go. Advocates say it’s a symptom of the long-standing homeless problem in Regina that has only gotten worse since a new social assistance program started in Saskatchewan.

Gavin Siggelkow lives in the camp right now. He’s been homeless since April when he put in a move form and couldn’t navigate the system to continue benefits. He said it was like he was never in their system.

“Each time you talk to somebody different and sometimes they’re very helpful and sometimes they’re not, but the programs are there and guide them on what they can do and it’s not a whole lot,” said Siggelkow.

“I kind of just gave up on them.”

Advocates say they predicted that homelessness would go up when the new program was introduced and now that prediction is coming true.

In 2019, the provincial government introduced a new social assistance program, Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS), meant to replace the Social Assistance Program and the Transitional Employment Allowance program.

For a while, the changeover was optional but everyone had to be moved by the end of August this year.

Alysia Johnson, chair of the Carmichael Outreach board, speaks to media about problems under the Saskatchewan Income Support program. Oct. 12, 2021 (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

“When it was getting close to the crunch here that everybody was being transitioned, we’re seeing a lot of people being displaced. They had to leave the places that they were living because they could no longer afford the rent and the utilities,” explained Dorreen Lloyd, a social worker in the community for 30 years.

The basic housing allowance under SIS is $575 in Regina and Saskatoon and $525 outside the two cities. Under the new program, all housing costs like power, heat, and water need to come out of that in addition to rent or a mortgage payment – previously social services had just paid what those bills came out to separately.

Lloyd said it’s just not enough — she puts together a list of available properties in Regina and there’s nothing for $575.

Shelters aren’t always an option, either. Lloyd and others said they’re always full. Lloyd said it breaks their hearts when they don’t have somewhere to put someone at the end of the day.

“Throughout the years we’ve been innovative, but we’ve run out of innovation. We don’t know where to put people anymore, and it’s frustrating,” Lloyd said.

According to Lloyd, the housing problem has been growing for years but this new program is adding “more salt to the wound.”

Other changes in the new program include no option for rent to be paid directly to a landlord or management company. Instead, it goes to the beneficiary and they need to pay rent themselves, which Peter Gilmer with the Anti-Poverty Ministry said is creating hardships.

And when there are problems, Gilmer said it’s tough to get someone at social services to fix it.

“Anybody who deals with that system knows that dealing with the call centre, you’re waiting forever if you get through. And even for advocates who are able to, perhaps, jump some stages, the reality is is that we shouldn’t be having to deal with every case on a case by case basis when we’re dealing with a systemic problem that affects thousands and thousands of people across Saskatchewan,” Gilmer said.

Gilmer said this is a public policy question and it’s a legislative question. He said government needs to make sure the system meets the needs of the most economically vulnerable people.

Gilmer said the government needs to take utilities back out of the housing allowance, needs to stop clawing back rental supplements and security deposits from beneficiaries, needs to make it easier to access social services for those who need help, and wants the minister and ministry of social service to come back to the table to create something better.

Shanon Zachidniak, ward eight councillor for the City of Regina, said they’re trying to figure out how to help people. They’re working to possibly get generators to the camp to allow people to keep warm and there’s talk of snow fences being put up.

Zachidniak said the city is technically ignoring some bylaws which would disallow the camp in Pepsi Park because those people have nowhere else to go.

She suggested the city could do more and that it could be discussed at the council meeting on Wednesday, including possibly putting people up in hotels.

Putting the people in Pepsi Park in hotels might help them, Siggelkow said, but it won’t help the other homeless in other parts of the city.

“This is a step in the right direction but I think the government now knows the way the SIS program and some of the social services programs work is inadequate and it’s about more than getting people into warm motels, it’s about housing, getting people a permanent place to stay where they can maybe feel like they can take a step forward,” said Siggelkow.

‘Scrap failed SIS experiment:’ Sask. NDP

The NDP is joining with community groups, calling for the program to change.

Citing increasing rental arrears, evictions and homelessness among Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program clients, NDP critic for social services, housing and human rights Meara Conway has written to social services minister Lori Carr to call on the province to suspend the SIS program, reimplement direct payments of rent to landlords and work on a comprehensive housing strategy to connect those in need with the supports they need.

“We are approaching winter and we are facing unprecedented evictions and homelessness. People are setting up tents outside. These are people, human beings, and Minister Carr chalks this up to ‘growing pains’ of a new program,” Conway said. “We’re one month in and it’s an unmitigated disaster.”

The Saskatchewan NDP also called for increases to payment amounts to better reflect the cost of living in the province and a working roundtable that includes consultation with anti-poverty advocates, landlords, social workers and government employees with the goal of putting together a comprehensive housing strategy.

“This government is unbelievably out of touch with the chaos they caused by cutting supports during an unprecedented pandemic and transitioning over to the Saskatchewan Income Support Program,” Conway said.

“The minister says she doesn’t know how many people transitioned to the SIS program or how many people fell through the cracks. She doesn’t know how many clients are assigned to a social worker, doesn’t know that clients are waiting 4-5 hours on the phone to reach their social worker. This is the Minister’s job.”

In a news release, the Saskatchewan NDP said the provincial government was “warned years in advance that this exact situation would occur should they continue to move forward with the transition” to the SIS program.

“In what has become a pattern of behaviour for this government, they ignored the advice and warnings from those who knew best,” the release said.

In response, the provincial government defended the SIS program, saying the change over was made to try to help people develop the skills to manage their own situations and get off of social assistance. The Minister also contends that the amount given for a housing allowance would be enough for a home with the Sask. Housing Authority and that shelters are not full.