Since 2016, we have seen fundamental changes to programs like assured income for people with disabilities, cuts to the rental housing supplement, changes to social housing and rental support programs, and even – at one point – degrading cuts to funeral assistance for people on income support. All of these changes have brought us to where we are now, during a global pandemic that has further impacted housing stability and income security for many of Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable people.
The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords has announced its closure on April 1st, 2021. Twenty-two full and part-time employees have been given termination notices. Although many people are eager to point the finger at either the federal or provincial government for the funding changes, remember that the Saskatchewan government cut core provincial funding to the Lighthouse in 2016 by 90 per cent, just a year after it opened. This funding was never restored, so the Provincial Métis Housing Corporation (PMHC) filled the void and provided the bulk of core funding through the federal “Reaching Home” program. The PMHC funding is now being reallocated, because it makes little logical sense for a provincial Métis housing organization to be responsible for an emergency homeless shelter serving the public in the Battlefords. It is within the provincial jurisdiction. The Lighthouse is now left where it was back in 2016 without significant provincial funding.