By Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
A delegation of concerned seniors called for action on the province’s ‘skyrocketing’ cost of rent on Monday, October 27th. One of those seniors calling for action was Regina’s Roger Derby, who has collected more than 60 signatures from neighbours in support of rent control. When Derby moved into his east-end Regina apartment in 2021, his rent was $2,495 a month. By February 2026, it will increase to $3,288, an increase of 31.8 percent.
“I’m on a fixed income, and so are most of the people in my building. We didn’t earn enough back then to put into our pension to afford the rent increases of today,” said Derby.
As his rent has gone up, Derby says services have actually gone down, including food, bus services and building activities. He says when he first moved into his building, landlords were willing to negotiate, but no longer.
“They tell you if you don’t like it, you can move, but moving is costly and stressful, especially for seniors. That’s why we look to governments to help.”
Unlike some other Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan does not have strict statutory rent control limits. This means that, in general, there is no maximum percentage by which a landlord can increase rent. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is only required to provide a minimum of two months’ written notice of a rent increase in units without a fixed-term lease. For tenants with a fixed-term lease, landlords cannot increase rent until the lease renewal. Personal care homes, correctional facilities, and certain student housing run by educational institutions are exempt from the standard rules for residential tenancies.
The pressure of increasing rents is not restricted to seniors. There are millions of people in Canada who spend more than half of their income on housing, and this puts them at serious risk of homelessness. (https://madeinca.ca/homelessness-statistics-canada/) The recent 35-cent-per-hour increase to the minimum wage in Saskatchewan, effective October 1, results in a monthly income boost of only $56 for workers. After taxes, this amounts to an additional $39.07, provided they work full 40-hour weeks.
Each day in Canada, some 35,000 people experience some form of homelessness and another 1.5 million pay more than they can afford for housing. The shelter crisis has spread to rural and remote communities, and youth, women and families are all much more likely to experience homelessness than in the past. (https://catherinedonnellyfoundation.org/our-work/housing/) While a lack of affordable housing alone does not explain the increase in homelessness in Canada, it is a major contributor, and poverty is often the root cause. Other reasons behind homelessness include emotional or physical abuse by a parent or partner, substance abuse, lack of employment, lack of affordable homes, family conflicts, coming from a marginalized community, physical or mental disability, and deteriorating mental health.
Homelessness was not a widespread social issue in Canada before 1980, according to the Canadian Observatory of Homelessness (COH) in its 2016 Report on the State of Homelessness. Today, homelessness has become a significant social concern due to the large number of individuals affected across the country. It is a complex issue with many contributing factors, and its impacts are felt not only by Canadians in general but also by at-risk and marginalized groups within society. Furthermore, a predictive model developed by an artificial intelligence (AI) program suggests that the homeless population in Canada could nearly double by the end of the decade, rising from current figures. By 2030, the predictive AI program used by HelpSeeker, a technology company based in Calgary that addresses social issues, estimates that the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Canada could reach approximately 550,000 to 570,000.
According to the Government of Canada’s, Everyone Counts 2024 – Highlights Report Part 1 – Enumeration of Homelessness, the findings of the 2024 Point-in-time (PiT) homelessness count showed that, from the PiT count conducted during the pandemic (2020-22) to last fall’s count, unsheltered homelessness numbers increased by 107 percent, on top of an increase of 95 percent between the 2018 PiT count and the 2020-22 one. These findings highlight an urgent need to address the root causes of the housing crisis, as homelessness continues to grow despite expanded shelter capacity and adaptation within the sector. The “rises in homelessness continue to outpace the adaptation within the sector, shown by the accelerating growth in unsheltered homelessness and the proliferation of encampments.”
In a summary report on the 2024 Pathways to Equity Workshop, organized by the University of Saskatchewan’s Community-University Institute for Social Research, the group highlighted that the current housing system is designed to generate profit rather than provide affordable housing. This approach not only undervalues human life but also contradicts the principle that adequate housing is a human right (p.8).
Workshop participants also pointed out the strict rules associated with many social housing programs, such as requirements for abstinence, a period of sobriety, curfews, and prohibitions against pets or visitors. These regulations can prevent individuals from accessing social housing, isolate them from their social networks, and, in some cases, may even discourage them from applying altogether. The issue of pets was specifically mentioned; individuals may choose not to pursue social housing if it means they have to leave their beloved animals behind.
Furthermore, workshop participants emphasized that emergency shelters are not viable long-term solutions. Many expressed that the shortage of long-term social housing in Saskatchewan exacerbates the existing housing supply crisis and that systematic changes are necessary to address the root causes of this issue. Participants also noted that current political discussions about homelessness and poverty often place blame on individuals seeking support rather than on the systemic issues at play. (cusr.usask.ca/pathways-to-equity-workshop-2024-summary-report)