City needs more safe, affordable housing, says advocate
Five new Silver Sage rental residences open to provide shelter to people in crisis
Twenty years ago, Erica Beaudin and her three young children fled a violent home.
Finding the right place to land was critical. Beaudin wanted a safe home and a safe community in which to raise her family. Thankfully, she found one. Access to a rental house through Silver Sage Housing Corporation, a non-profit that provides affordable housing for Indigenous people and families, meant Beaudin could get back on her feet, finish university and create a better life for her family.
“Having that opportunity and having my children have that safe place to play as well as sleep had me able to concentrate on different aspects of our life in order to better it,” said Beaudin.
Now a homeowner, her kids are finishing their post-secondary education and looking to home ownership as well.
But as executive director of Regina Treaty/status Indian Services (RT/SIS) — which provides assistance, programming, training, advocacy and referral services for urban First Nations and First Nations transitioning between reserve and the city — she said the need for safe, affordable housing has only increased.
“We have drive-by shootings now, which we didn’t have. We have home invasions. There’s … different types of drugs out there,” she said during the official opening of five new Silver Sage homes held at The Gathering Place on Monday morning.
She said the issue of violence is much more intense now than it was 20 years ago during her own housing crisis.
“These five houses are absolutely amazing, but it would have been nice to say we had 10 or 15 or 20 houses available today,” she said.
Silver Sage was able to buy the houses and get them ready for tenants thanks to $800,000 in funding from both the provincial and federal governments through the Canada-saskatchewan Investment in Affordable Housing Agreement.
Silver Sage will be contributing approximately $460,000 in the form of cash/land equity and mortgage financing, and has partnered with the RT/SIS to provide support services for at-risk clients facing a housing crisis.
“Even at a time where it might seem like the (rental) vacancy is going up, we still have, in our company, high, high demand for housing,” said Silver Sage CEO Maynard Sonntag. “So a project like this that provides housing for people that are in crisis is just so very important.”
Sonntag said they get people coming in every day looking for housing, and about 300 people on the waiting list who may or may not quality for housing.
Applicants are placed in a Silver Sage home depending on their need. A single mother will be higher on the priority list than a single person, said Sonntag. A detailed application process determines where each applicant falls on the spectrum of need.
Families placed in the five new three-bedroom homes, none of which are occupied yet, will pay $850 a month, which Sonntag says covers the mortgage, insurance, taxes and a small amount for repairs and maintenance.
Silver Sage initially got approval to buy four houses, but a buyer’s market prompted the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation to approve the purchase of a fifth house.
“We could fill many, many more houses but every step forward is fabulous and really important,” said Sonntag.
In addition to emergency housing, Silver Sage’s partnership with RT/SIS goes one step further in addressing other basic needs like mental health and addictions services.
“The housing is an integral, foundational part, however we still require the services to assist families, to move through what they need to in order to have that independent lifestyle,” said Beaudin.
She said RT/SIS will work with many families for three to five years at a time.
“It’s very gratifying and a blessing to be part of this very significant change that will be available to five families at a time,” said Beaudin of the five new houses.
“The magic happen when you see those families going through the door for the first time,” she said during her speech at the official opening. “It’s about identity. It’s about confidence. It’s about breaking systems.”