Quint Development

Is housing really a priority when Canada's federal budget looks like this?? The poor little housing hedgehog at $1.6 billion and Old Age Security at $28.3 billion (20% of which goes to seniors with household incomes above $100K). Budgets are a statement of values. action.gensqueeze.ca/fix_oas

New tallies found at least 1,931 people are experiencing homelessness in Saskatoon this year — that's 432 more than 2024. So let's get our facts straight about this urgent issue 🤝

Housing is the word on everyone's lips, but we are still creating only a fraction of the number of affordable housing units we used to. The difference is even more stark if you look back a few decades.

We have the collective power necessary to push for just solutions to our shared socio-economic crises — we just have to use it 💭

This month, the City of Saskatoon published the findings from their annual Civic Satisfaction and Performance survey. To us, these statistics are a reminder that we have the strength of numbers on our side.

However, addressing the failure of Canada's housing system will require more than just new investments — our housing policies need to dramatically shift toward preserving the right to housing over the desire to profit.

The federal budget is out! Promising $1.5 billion for maintaining our current affordable housing stock, $2.8 billion for Indigenous housing, and $1 billion for transitional and supportive housing.

Our country loses an estimated $3.65 billion in tax revenue every single year because they allow offshore tax avoidance. Furthermore, polls have found that over 90% of Canadians support addressing tax havens.

The billionaire loophole: How Canada’s tax system fuels inequality While ordinary Canadians struggle, the top one per cent hide billions in offshore tax havens — a colonial system engineered to protect wealth and starve public services

As we wait for the federal budget to be released, here's a reminder that we could have both well-funded public services and a healthy economy. Our government would have billions more dollars for improving our public services if they closed Canada's tax haven loopholes. ricochet.media/labour/class...

They urged policymakers to tackle the crisis by “drastically expanding affordable housing supply, prioritizing investments in Indigenous, Black, and community-led housing projects" and “dismantling systemic barriers, enhancing tenant protections, and improving enforcement against discrimination."

This fall, @bcpolicy.bsky.social published a new report on racial inequality in Canada's housing market.

Poverty isn't just a social issue; it's also an economic issue. Ending poverty will strengthen our communities and our economy.

If you're struggling to afford daily necessities, you are not alone. The high concentration of wealth is not an individual failure; it's a policy failure.

These stats come from an assessment of people living in private sector, for-profit housing. Like many other communities across the globe, our city is in urgent need of more social and affordable housing. Any community is only as strong as its ability to support its most vulnerable members.

The City of Saskatoon's 2025 Housing Report shared that these populations are most likely to live in housing that needs major repairs, costs more than they can afford, or is too small for the number of inhabitants.

Protecting children and youth means better meeting the needs of entire families and communities. The mission to end cycles of childhood trauma and abuse is interconnected with ending the cycles of poverty, problematic substance use, child removal, and homelessness.

Food for thought 💸

We each have a responsibility to ensure that our leaders know we expect justice for Indigenous communities to be a priority 365 days a year.

The Stark Reality Ten Years after the Truth and Reconciliation Report | The Walrus “We have to wonder: should we just abandon ‘reconciliation’ altogether?”

A decade after the TRC, the gov't has only completed 15/95 Calls to Action. However, researchers found that when more public attention is focused on reconciliation (ex. directly after the discovery of unmarked graves), the gov't addresses more of the Calls to Action. thewalrus.ca/trc-introduc...

'Unique people doing a unique thing': Saskatoon programs offer second chance for people leaving corrections Saskatoon programs provide work — ranging from needle pickup to graffiti removal — to people who are trying to turn their lives around.

“Sometimes I feel that this is the best chance we get at a better life."

Thank you to Brody Langager and Michelle Berg from the Star Phoenix for helping us to spread the word about our initiatives.

thestarphoenix.com/news/local-n...

Climate disasters such as wildfires and extreme heat will continue to worsen social and economic inequality until Canada takes real steps to fight climate change and sufficiently mitigate its impact on our communities.

Canada needs a climate-responsive social safety net For anyone already struggling, chaotic disaster responses increase vulnerability and the risk of poverty, health crises and death.

The photo that accompanies this article was taken here in Saskatchewan — people have been falling through the cracks of our disaster response systems (and our regular systems) for years. policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/09/clim...

Making Rent: The CCPA’s rental wage update 2024 - CCPA It’s almost cliche to say that the high cost of housing is at the heart of Canada’s affordability crisis. Although much media attention is placed on the home ownership market, for the one-third of hou...

@policyalternatives.ca releases a report every year calculating what a fair minimum wage would need to be in different communities across Canada. You can read the full report here: www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Provincial and federal leaders are choosing to raise minimum wage by 35 cents instead of ensuring that everyone receives a living wage and refusing to implement a housing system that prioritizes those who need housing over those who want to profit off of the housing market.

When workers are underpaid and housing is overpriced, someone is profiting. Our elected leaders are allowing corporations and the wealthy to profit off of raising the cost of necessities like food/housing and paying workers exploitatively low wages.

Saskatchewan is also one of only two provinces that haven't signed an agreement with the feds to continue $10-day childcare and other federal incentives past 2026.

Cash cow: Assessing child care space creation progress - CCPA Canada’s $10-a-day child care program isn't creating enough spaces to meet demand and isn't doing enough to make sure that new spaces are non-profit

@policyalternatives.ca just released a new report tracking the progress of federal and provincial efforts to increase the affordability and accessibility of childcare, determining that Saskatchewan is over 17,000 childcare spaces short of government goals. www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Through our employment program we speak to many people, primarily women and other gender minorities, who have dreams of further education or fulfilling employment but can only work limited hours in fields with low pay because they don't have access to childcare.

In a recent op-ed, Canadian economists and housing experts call on the federal government to invest in more informed, collaborative solutions to the housing crisis. archive.ph/GzTnU #housing #canada #canpoli

You can read the full letter BC housing experts sent to the federal government here: thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...