Rising evictions in Saskatchewan show provincial aid programs have a problem: critics

As she does every day, Monica Dawn Ermine had spent the morning of Dec.5 taking prescription medicines for HIV and chronic back pain at a Saskatoon pharmacy.

And that's when she found out she had been evicted from her apartment.

Now, she walks the streets in the sub-zero cold looking for a new place to live. And she's not alone.

The Office of Residential Tenancies (ORT), which adjudicates hearings between landlords and tenants on evictions, says it received 3,298 applications between April 1 to Nov. 30 from landlords seeking a writ of possession.

Almost 50 per cent of those, 1,643, resulted in an eviction being granted.

During the same time frame, the Sheriff's Office executed 676 evictions, Ermine's among them.

So far in December there have been more than 108 evictions in Saskatchewan, according to Canadian Legal Information Institute (CLII) records.

Under the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program, Ermine receives $1,100 every month but a third of that has gone to her rent. With inflationary pressures and rising costs of living, she said, a "couple of hundred dollars" does not go far.

"The cost of food has gone up but the financial distribution from the government stays the same," Ermine, 44, said. "It doesn't make sense," she said.

"My hands and feet are cold from walking around all the time. No one should be homeless, period. I am being backed up into a corner and nobody should be thrown out in the freezing cold."

She said she considers herself lucky to be on SAID because the other social assistance program that isn't targeted at disabled people — the Saskatchewan Income Support program or (SIS) — "barely covers anything." 

"I suffer from addiction issues and anxiety disorder in addition to having hepatitis C. I have got a lot of disabilities going on," she said. "I want to beat my addiction and not do things for my drugs like prostitution and petty stealing."

WATCH | What it's like for one homeless woman in Saskatoon: 

Evicted in winter, here's what it's like for one homeless woman in Saskatoon

2 years ago

Duration 2:40

Extreme cold warnings are dangerous conditions for anyone who's homeless, and right now, that includes Monica Dawn Ermine. She was evicted from her apartment earlier this month.

'SIS was so much hassle' 

William Paddy, who is on SAID for spinal meningitis and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, said he has "been homeless and have been on and off for some 10 years. I live on the streets of Saskatoon."

Before his recent incarceration, Paddy was also on the SIS program.

"SIS was so much hassle. I wasn't getting any benefits, I was broke all the time," he said.

According to Alexa Van Volkenburg, a community support worker at Community Legal Assistance Services For Saskatoon Inner City (CLASSIC), "a lot of people on income assistance couldn't afford rents before inflation but now it's skyrocketing." 

People like Paddy often can't provide references, she says, an additional barrier to finding housing.

"I am petrified of the winters. Two have already died when it's not even the harshest yet," Van Volkenburg said. "Housing is harm-reduction. It's a human right but all systems are setting people up for failure."

Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky told CBC news a few weeks ago that Saskatchewan has some of the most affordable housing in Canada, and the increased shelter benefits and the $500 affordability cheques are helping.

But Volkenburg disagrees.

"There aren't much options for folks," she said, as the number of unhoused people in the community is increasing dramatically. "A lot of those 'affordable units' aren't safe, often bug-infested with door locks broken.

"What's been said at the ministry is often not happening on the front lines," Volkenburg said. "I find it hard when ministry workers say there are housing options. Where is this secret list?"

Nicholas Blenkinsop, a supervising lawyer at CLASSIC, says visible homelessness has increased in the city, and while well-meaning, programs such as SIS are adding fuel to the problem.

"ORT [Office of Residential Tenancies] has gone almost exclusively to an online information sharing and by-phone hearing process. These new systems have created barriers for people who usually have poor access to technology," he said.

"Despite very clear directions from the court saying ORT needs to do a more fulsome inquiry into what is just and equitable in circumstances, the ORT and the hearing officers there continue to fail to do that regularly."

In an email, an ORT spokesperson said the office is seeing the average number of possession applications return to pre-pandemic levels.

"The [ORT] provides information to the public in person, through information clinics (available in person and virtually), and by email and telephone," the email said. "The ORT also has computers, scanners, and telephones available for public use at both the Regina and Saskatoon offices, as well as staff who are available to assist the public."

SIS 'a failed experiment'

Calling SIS "a failed experiment," Blenkinsop said it is forcing more people into uninhabitable living conditions.

He said the number of people who are housing insecure could easily be much higher than "the 3,298 applications from landlords for possession."

He calls for subsidized and safe housing options.

"More community members are struggling and suffering, especially in the past two years. Housing insecurity and homelessness in Saskatchewan is not faceless," he said.

"We know through statistics that predominantly Indigenous people are affected the most. It's going to be a further perpetuation of intergenerational trauma and an ongoing issue of colonialism."