Latest news with #SaskatchewanAssuredIncomeforDisability
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sask. Opposition trumpets report criticizing social assistance programs
Saskatchewan's Opposition NDP says the provincial government needs to rethink its Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program after a new report found that some users feel the service failed to meet their basic needs. "We need to fix SIS urgently," said NDP social services critic Brent Blakley at a news conference Tuesday. For the report, the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership spoke with 35 users of the SIS or Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) programs, along with 55 community service providers who often work with people using these programs. The survey found "widespread dissatisfaction and significant gaps in meeting basic needs," according to the report. Many of the people reported that the benefits these programs provide are not adequate to support basic needs, such as rent for housing, food and utilities. Many also pointed to a concern over financial pressures placed on income support clients. The chief issue raised was a call for the province to reinstate direct payments for rent and utilities to landlords and utility companies, an issue that has been raised continuously since the change away from that system, according to the report. "The SIS program, designed to help people in crisis is now pushing them over the edge. We've heard from shelters, from housing workers, from community agencies they move away from direct payment has failed," Blakely said. In a statement, Social Services Minister Terry Jenson defended the government's changes to the SIS program. Jenson said the ministry does directly pay rent and utilities, "for Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) clients who require it." He also noted that the SIS monthly benefit has increased four years in a row, with the most recent increase if two per cent coming into effect in May as part of the most recent provincial budget. Critics have said that increase is not nearly enough to assist those living on the edge of poverty. Homelessness in Saskatoon The NDP also drew a line between support for those in poverty and the growing number of homeless people in Saskatoon. The latest point-in-time count in the city found that on a particular day in 2024, there were 1,499 people experiencing homelessness. That's nearly nearly triple the number reported in 2022. "This isn't just a number. These are people, families, seniors, youth sleeping in cars, in tents or on the street and this didn't happen overnight. It's the direct result of government choices," said NDP housing critic April ChiefCalf. ChiefCalf said the province has allowed housing costs to rapidly increase while refusing to fix vacant housing units owned by the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation. That's left thousands of units across the province damaged and empty, Chiefcalf said. A report by the provincial auditor released last year found the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation owned approximately 3,000 units in Regina. The report said that of the 534 units vacant in the province's capital, 364 were out of service and needing repair. At that same time, 404 households were waiting for social housing units. Minister Jenson said this year's provincial budget will begin to address the issue of provincial-owned housing, with $9.2 million in spending going to multi-year repair and renovation projects to 285 Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units, including 44 units at Westview Place in Saskatoon.
CBC
20-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Anti-poverty advocates pan Sask. budget's affordability measures
Social Sharing The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry says the 2025-26 Saskatchewan budget doesn't do enough to protect those most vulnerable in a turbulent economy threatened by looming tariffs. "Obviously this is going to have an impact on everybody, but our experience working in the low-income sector is that the people that are always hurt the most by these types of changes are the people who have the least," said Peter Gilmer with the anti-poverty ministry, who spoke to CBC at the Legislature after the budget release Wednesday. "When we're going into a budget where folks are only getting into an additional two per cent at the lowest end of the spectrum … that's disturbing for us." The Saskatchewan Party government made affordability a large plank of its 2024 election campaign. Many of the promises made are in the budget: raising income tax exemptions, increasing low-income supports and boosting the Active Families Benefit. The budget includes a two per cent increase to the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) and the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability benefits. That works out to monthly increases of around $20 and $24 respectively, Gilmer said. "Given the cost of living crisis that we've been dealing with and the fact that these rates have been far too low for far too long, that's nowhere near enough," Gilmer said. The Low-Income Tax Credit is increasing by five per cent annually for four years, benefiting more than 300,000 people and families, according to the province. An increase to the Personal Care Home Benefit for low-income seniors in licensed personal care homes will help about 2,000 people, the province said. The government's affordability measures will please some people, but still fall short, said Simon Enoch, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "I'm sure people in the middle class will welcome the tax cuts," Enoch said. "I think the low-income people are the people here that may be sacrificed." Enoch was surprised the budget didn't include a contingency fund to help people potentially affected by U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and fallout from an extended trade war. "I had really hoped that the government would've swung for the fences here, because we are in an extremely precarious economic and financial situation, potentially," he said. "This was an opportunity to really rise to the occasion. And I just don't see anything here that shows the urgency of this situation we're in." Enoch wanted the budget to include supports like job re-training funds for laid-off workers or price-gouging protection for consumers, and more local procurement programs like the province just established for steel. Active families bump welcomed Sask Sport, the non-profit advocating for amateur sports, welcomed increases to the Active Families Benefit, which reimburses parents for costs involved with sports, arts and cultural activities. The province doubled the benefit to $300 and doubled its income threshold to $120,000. The change will make community sports more accessible for some families, said Rob Kennedy, sports division manager at Sask Sport. "It's an opportunity for more kids to get involved with sport and recreation activities," Kennedy said. "The new amount, it's substantial. The threshold was quite low in the past and now it's going to be a significant number of families that could access this." The budget also keeps the small business tax rate at one per cent and reduces education property tax mill rates across all property classes. For families, the dependent child exemption increases to $7,704 this year from $7,015 and the budget forecasts it will hit $9,706 by 2028. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) expressed dismay that the budget adds $2.4 billion to the provincial debt. The province already spends about $1 billion annually — about $705 per person — to service debt, said Gage Haubrich, CTF's Prairie director. "The government is continuing just to spend and put that onto the backs of taxpayers," Haubrich said. "A more responsible budget would have seen the government get the debt to start going down, not adding billions of dollars to it, with potential for billions of more to be added if this tariff situation gets worse."
