Single mom fears changes to rent aid
No new applications for supplement after July 1 as province aims to save $5M
Crystal Linka was pregnant and in and out of part-time jobs when she applied for the Saskatchewan Rental Housing Supplement (SRHS) a decade ago.
She and her partner, who was also struggling to get consistent work, were accepted into the program and began receiving monthly payments that made it possible for them to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
“It was huge,” Linka said. “We had rent, we had groceries, we had bills covered.”
Linka is now a single mom to three children aged seven, nine and 10. One of them has cancer, so Linka needs to drive back and forth to the hospital, which hurts her ability to work. She has received the SRHS nearly every month for the last 10 years and says the money — about $330 — is the difference between paying rent on time and ending up on the streets.
As of July 1, the SRHS will not accept new applicants. Linka said she worries about what will happen to others who find themselves unable to pay rent. A few times in the past, she did not receive the monthly payment because she had a well-paying temporary job or failed to check in with the Ministry of Social Services on time. Now she worries that if she is deemed ineligible for the payment one month, she will be cut off permanently.
“It’s scary, it’s really scary. If they take that away, where do we come up with that rent?” she said.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Services said “individuals may no longer be eligible for the SRHS if there are changes to their situation, including a change in income, their family unit or the type or location of their housing. It is also important for clients to follow the reporting requirements of the program. However due to the new program changes, the Ministry will work with individual clients to evaluate their situation and can make exceptions depending on an individual’s circumstances.”
In its 2018-19 budget released this spring, the Saskatchewan Party government announced that it would not accept any new intakes for the SRHS after June 30. Existing recipients are not affected. The move is expected to save the government $5 million this fiscal year.
In an announcement about the decision, the government said it was based on improvements in the rental market in recent years and that it wants to refocus funding on other programs.
Those programs include the Saskatchewan Assistance Program (SAP), Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) and Transitional Employment Allowance (TEA). The province noted the federal government plans to introduce a new Canada Housing Benefit in 2020 to help families and individuals afford housing.
The Saskatchewan NDP held a news conference in Saskatoon on Thursday in which it called on the Saskatchewan Party to cancel the changes to the SRHS.
“As of July 1 we’re going to see more people who are needing this service not able to access it — people who have their circumstances change, they won’t be getting this support any more. And for what? A savings of $5 million?” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said.
“That’s going to amount to very little in our budget and it’s going to amount to much greater costs down the road. Greater costs in hospital costs, in cells, in other services in social services.”
The SRHS — which was started in 2005 — provides maximum payments of between $61 and $364 a month to eligible individuals and families. The payments depend on the city where the recipients live, how many children they have and whether anyone in the family has a disability.