A Saskatoon city committee approved a new homelessness action plan at City Hall on Tuesday, but understanding the city’s role in measuring success of the plan wasn’t immediately clear to councillors. The 30-page plan was developed by the Saskatoon Tribal Council, Métis Nation–Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership and the city over the past year. The plan is designed to be a roadmap towards making homelessness “rare, brief and non-recurring,” and is centred around three priorities: affordable housing supply, addressing systemic barriers to reduce the inflow of people entering homelessness, and increasing community collaboration. “We’re recommending that the plan be received as information, and then the city’s role in the plan be re-affirmed,” city manager Jeff Jorgenson said. However, much of Tuesday’s discussion surrounded the city’s lack of available data to work with in order to make decisions. In October, a point-in-time count found 1,931 people living in some state of homelessness in Saskatoon. That represented an increase of 432 people compared to 2024 and more than three times higher than the total recorded in 2022. But multiple speakers on Tuesday acknowledged the one-time count over a 24-hour period represents only a snapshot of Saskatoon’s homelessness crisis. Karen Kobussen, the CEO of the Saskatoon West Business Association, says the city has maintained the same goals and done little to accomplish them in her 14 years of advocating for homelessness initiatives and policies. She says that’s because of the funding and data being relied upon. “We have by-name data, but it is not sufficient enough to qualify what the needs are,” Kobussen said. “Right now, what we’re doing is upside down because we’re not responding to the needs, based on the anecdotal data we have. Quality by-name measurement is the first step [of] how we need to get through to this.” Kobussen spoke at a Parliamentary committee in Ottawa last month about homelessness. She urged the city to do less of the same and to change course by investing into proper data collection to inform its decisions. “I believe we can end homelessness in Saskatoon with strategy, measurements and actual numbers that reduce inflow and exceed outflow,” she said. Of the many action items listed in the report, one caught the attention above all others Tuesday: advocate for a rent control policy. However, the city quickly walked back any advocacy for strengthening tennant rights or the introduction of rent control. Any form of rent control would be subject to provincial legislation and not a municipal bylaw. Jorgenson first said rent control was in an earlier draft before he was told it was included in the final report being discussed at the meeting. “What we’re very specifically saying is the city is not weighing in on that,” Jorgenson added. “We are only recommending confirmation of the city’s lane in the plan.” Coleen Christopherson-Cote, the coordinator for the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership, understands there is jurisdiction for everyone involved in the plan, but she encouraged the city to lead the way. “Collectively, we can do the work together differently — and that’s what the report is calling for,” she said. “So, you can use jurisdiction as an excuse, or you can lean into it and figure out what your levers are and make the most and be brave and bold and push those levers to capacity.” During her speech to the committee, Christopherson-Cote said a priority that needs to be considered more often is the effect of poverty on homelessness. She says income assistance and minimum wage jobs aren’t enough to make housing affordable with the rise of the cost of living seen in the last two years. Multiple amendments were made by the committee before approving the plan and some minor wording was changed. Council will expect annual check-in reports of the plan’s progress from city administration. Administration will also report back to council on options to develop a more comprehensive data framework to work with. “We understand there’s a big problem and that and everybody’s working hard to fix the problem, but we’re not tracking our problem,” Ward 8 Coun. Scott Ford said. “Not at all. We have a point-in-time count, and that’s the primary piece of data that’s in this action plan. We need more.”
