Minister gives some answers around hiked motel bill

Saskatchewan’s minister of social services is providing some answers after it was revealed Wednesday that a Regina motel, owned by a Sask. Party MLA, hiked its room rate when the ministry took over a client’s bill.

The ministry uses hotel rooms for people when there are no other options for shelter.

A couple weeks ago, Evelyn Harper was evicted from her Regina Housing Authority unit due to circumstances that appeared to be out of her control.

With nowhere else to go, she checked herself into Sunrise Motel in east Regina. A few days later, the ministry took over the motel bill, which is when the bill jumped more than $30, then again another $40 to $200 a night. Harper was in the hotel for nearly two weeks, she’s since been placed in another social housing unit.

In explaining why the cost may have jumped, Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky said, generally, the ministry doesn’t pay a damage deposit for hotel rooms and so an extra cost may be folded in to the nightly room rate by the hotel.

Makowsky couldn’t explain at the time why the ministry doesn’t pay a damage deposit.

The minister said the ministry tries to get the best rates it can for hotels.

“(But) there are times when there are emergency situations where we maybe can’t get the best deal out there because there’s an influx, or there’s a different time of year where hotel rooms are at a premium,” said Makowsky.

“We have to keep in mind the rate we want to pay, but the situation we’re in in terms of a vulnerable client that we want to look after – particularly if it’s -30 C out.”

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The minister also couldn’t say what the range might be that the ministry would be willing to pay for a room, but said $200 a night would be at the high end.

According to Makowsky, the ministry saw the bill had risen but didn’t want to make Harper move.

“I think there was a consideration for the individual to not want to have to move them around – they had been through a difficult situation with mobility issues – and I think there was some concern on that side of things,” said Makowsky.

Makowsky said a process or policy around making sure the ministry isn’t getting gouged for hotel rooms would be something to look at but, he said, at the same time if there’s only one hotel room available, the ministry wants to make sure that person in an emergency has a place to stay.

Makowsky said the ministry doesn’t have contracts with hotels, but did say there are hotels the ministry has worked with for years. He said there are challenges on the side of some hotels being willing to take social services clients.

Sunrise Motel is owned by Sask. Party MLA Gary Grewal. He wasn’t available to speak on Wednesday, and Makowsky said he’d leave discussions about any conflicts of interest to Grewal.

When asked about whether the ministry should have known the hotel was owned by Grewal, Makowsky said letting the ministry know would be up to the individual MLA.

“I don’t know that the ministry would have that level of information to check all the potential owners of every hotel,” said Makowsky.

The minister couldn’t say at the time how often ministry clients were referred to that hotel. The ministry did spend $850,000 in the 2022-23 fiscal year on hotel rooms, but it wasn’t clear on Wednesday how much might have been paid to Sunrise Motel.