The Official Opposition says clients, landlords, social workers, anti-poverty advocates, municipalities and now the Provincial Auditor have all identified that the Saskatchewan Income Support Program isn’t working, leading to more evictions and homelessness. The report highlights that over 5,200 SIS clients have unpaid SaskEnergy and SaskPower bills, totalling almost $4.2 million as of this past February. Instead of landlords receiving payment directly from the government, as was the case with the former Transitional Employment Allowance, the renters are to pay it themselves, leading many landlords opting to not accepting applications from those that are on the SIS program.

A news release from the NDP says, “Of the over 255,000 calls to its SIS phoneline, 64% went unanswered. These issues have been compounded by the Sask Party’s failure to analyze the data about SIS client evictions and unpaid utility bills, and develop real strategies to address them.”