In an effort to better understand the reasons behind homelessness in Saskatoon and to see if there has been a change since the first Point-in-Time count in 2008, there is a count happening between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday.

Spokesperson with the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership, Brenna Sych, says surveying the city gives a snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness and why they are homeless.

Then, programming and funding can be streamlined for the specific challenges that show up in the survey.  She notes that affordable housing is a big issue in Saskatoon, and adds that homeless doesn’t just mean people on the streets. It also includes those in shelters and those with no fixed address who are couch surfing with friends, which is called hidden homelessness, and it especially affects youth.

This is the first Point-in-Time homelessness count in Saskatoon since 2018. Sych says the 2020 count was cancelled because of the pandemic.  In 2008, there were 260 people considered homeless, then in 2012 that rose to 372 and in 2018, the count rose to 475.

SHIP is the community entity in Saskatoon from the federal government’s Reaching Home Project. The Point-in-Time Count is supported by the Community-University Institute for Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan and is part of a larger national initiative across Canadian cities under the direction of the Reaching Home Project.
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