Tenants say Saskatoon Housing building being taken over by people with drug addiction, mental health issues

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 15, 2025 4:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Lynnett Boris is surviving successful fearfulness successful her long-time home.

Her flat successful King Edward Place connected 25th Street successful Saskatoon — a gathering tally by the Saskatoon Housing Authority — has turned into a nightmare, with stateless radical and radical with cause addictions roaming the halls portion the building falls into disrepair.

"My [window] screen's been slashed a mates of times," said Boris, who uses a wheelchair.

"What worries maine the astir is 1 of these days the screens are not lone going to beryllium slashed, but broken, and I'm going to beryllium helpless to support myself."

She besides has a lockbox connected her door, truthful that attraction aides tin fastener up aft they permission astatine night.

"That's been stolen and recovered up connected the 2nd oregon 3rd floor," she said.

Boris spoke astatine an NDP quality conference, called by the provincial Opposition enactment to item the problems with the building.

Keith Jorgenson, the NDP's professional for seniors, said tenants person told him astir cause usage happening openly successful communal areas of the building, radical passed retired successful stairwells and feces smeared connected walls. 

The gathering has gone from being 1 reserved for seniors to a societal lodging facility, that is lodging radical with intelligence and carnal wellness problems due to the fact that of a deficiency of acute attraction spots, helium said.

"It destroys the livability of the building," Jorgenson said. "You person a games country that radical haven't gone into for months and months due to the fact that radical are acrophobic to spell into the communal spaces."

Those with addictions oregon who are stateless request peculiar supports, thing King Edward Place doesn't have, helium said.

"It's perfectly appalling that the authorities is choosing to offload the occupation that they've created successful acute attraction onto seniors."

The Ministry of Social Services disputes the claims of the NDP and tenants.

In an emailed connection sent to CBC on behalf of its housing division and the Saskatoon Housing Authority, it said a information institution has been contracted to beryllium connected site. 

"Video surveillance footage and discussions with the on-site information institution does not enactment claims that guests are sleeping successful stairwells, wandering the gathering oregon engaging successful amerciable enactment specified arsenic cause dealing," the ministry's connection said. 

King Edward Place is simply a societal lodging gathering intended to let radical property 55 oregon older to unrecorded independently, and all of the existent residents conscionable the requirements to unrecorded successful seniors' societal housing, the ministry said.

"We privation elder societal lodging to beryllium a welcoming, harmless abstraction for each elder residents who necessitate affordable lodging successful their communities," the connection said.

It besides said the lodging authorization has "directly followed up with each progressive tenants" astir concerns "and continues to supply enactment and enactment with residents to guarantee they conscionable their lease statement obligations."

But Boris said that hasn't been the case.

She said the gathering is in disrepair, with bungee cords holding information doors successful place, and erstwhile she's reached retired to the lodging department, her concerns person fallen connected deaf ears.

Other tenants are acrophobic to talk retired for fearfulness of losing their suites, she said.

"A batch of these seniors are nether the content that if they talk retired and kick that someway Sask. Housing is going to evict them from their spaces."

Jorgenson said determination are respective residents who are legitimately surviving successful the gathering and were antecedently homeless, but they are past allowing different radical into the building. 

He claimed immoderate are renting retired mattresses to different people.

"So arsenic residents spot radical coming and going, cipher truly knows who lives present anymore," Jorgenson said.

"It's perfectly shocking and appalling erstwhile the government's alert that radical are renting retired mattresses to radical casually sleeping successful the gathering who are doing drugs and past selling drugs," helium said.

"No seniors should person to benignant of fastener themselves and barricade themselves successful and beryllium acrophobic astatine night."