NDP Leader Carla Beck suggests that the vacancy rates for social housing have contributed to homelessness and tent encampments across the province.

The Official Opposition has released documents from the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation which shows that 3,161 social housing units were vacant last year.

Estevan has 295 units and 110 were vacant. In Prince Albert, 159 of the 934 units were vacant and in Saskatoon 75 of the 2,334 units weren’t being used.
Regina had 691 vacant units out of 2,986.  Beck estimates this amounts to almost a billion dollars of assets which she suggests are being mismanaged by the government.

Housing Critic Meara Conway says, “They have failed to keep up with the housing need. They have failed to obtain additional units that can meet the need and to maintain the units we already have.