Prevention policies for homelessness and housing insecurity rather than reacting after the fact is part of the aim of a research partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and the City of Saskatoon.

Department head of Economics in the College of Arts and Science, Dr. Nazmi Sari, explains that he is working with Melissa McHale from the Saskatoon Fire Department’s Fire Bylaw Enforcement division.  Their goal is to look at all of the social services programs and policies to see what is the most effective, so those can be focused on in the future.

The research also includes looking at how bylaws can unintentionally have negative effects. Sari gives the example of the Fire Department having to close unsafe buildings, leaving those who lived there looking for somewhere else to go.  McHale says, “If we deem a house to be uninhabitable, as a last resort, we’ll issue a notice of closure on a house. We’ve had to do that where there’s people, family, and pets living in the houses.”  The research project will look into why the house was closed in the first place, because the problem didn’t appear overnight.

Sari says, “This is a community issue, not just a problem just homeless people.”  Policies from all levels of government will be studied.