REGINA - A resolution that would have declared a houselessness crisis in the city of Regina got a cool reception from a majority of Regina council members.
With Mayor Sandra Masters and several councillors pointing out the city’s various efforts to address the houselessness issue already, the various provisions of Councillor Shanon Zachidniak’s lengthy resolution to address the homeless issue in the city fell to defeat in four separate votes, each one receiving a minimum of six votes against.
In addition to the first motion that would have declared a houselessness crisis, a motion where council would call on the federal and provincial governments to address the crisis immediately was also defeated. Also falling were motions that encampments receive a written safety checklist and help ensure they are compliant, and a motion that they can only be dismantled if a documented unwillingness to address safety concerns can be demonstrated. On that final motion, only Zachidniak voted in favor.
Two other parts of the resolution - one to direct administration to create a plan by Q3 to provide temporary barrier-free shelter, and another where the City of Regina makes a long term commitment to addressing houselessness as part of the 2024 budget process - both ended up in a referral motion from Councillor Bob Hawkins. That referral motion carried, with those items to be part of the budget process in the fall.
The resolution before council was the same one presented in a notice of motion at the council meeting on August 16 that was supported by four members of council. It failed to get much traction on Wednesday even though Zachidniak had offered several changes to the wording including a change from declaring a “houselessness emergency” to a “houselessness crisis.” Zachidniak had said she hoped to seek consensus on the issue, but that did not transpire.
As has been the case at past Regina meetings with the homeless issue on the agenda, the atmosphere in council chambers was a tense one. Several delegations appeared along with numerous other advocates for the homeless issue attending in the gallery. Each one who spoke called for the houselessness resolution to be supported.
The tension erupted right from the start before the delegations even started to speak, when Councillor Hawkins raised objections to people in the gallery using their iPhones to record the proceedings. Mayor Sandra Masters ruled that recording not be allowed, and that carried 5-4.
After the resolution was formally introduced and some discussion took place, Hawkins gave remarks speaking against the motion. He took issue with suggestions that the city was doing nothing on the issue.
“It’s not the case that nothing has been done… this council and in particular this mayor has done more on this issue than has ever been done before. $7.1 million at least, and we are going to get from the administration a detailed plan on all of the administrative action that’s been taken."
Hawkins also pointed to relationship building, and made clear he thought that the relationships that had been built with other levels of government might be put at risk.
“We will not further the cause of houselessness if we start hectoring governments of Saskatchewan and Canada, ordering them to contribute urgently to this issue. They’re already there with us. They’ve been with us all along… If we start making statements, ordering them to do something, impugning that they are unconscious about the seriousness of the housing crisis, they’re going to pay no attention to us.
Hawkins also suggested the city and fire department acted appropriately in shutting down the encampment at City Hall. “There was danger there,” he said.
It was at this point that the audience interrupted the proceedings. Masters ordered one individual to leave the room and as she departed she repeatedly yelled “the blood is on your hands.”
“The door, ma’am. Thank you very much for attending today,” Masters responded.
Hawkins then made the motion referring all the budget matters in the resolution to the 2024 budget process. It was at which point that several more in the gallery got up to leave, also yelling "blood on your hands" at council members. One individual loudly yelled at council members as he made his way to the door, prompting Mayor Masters to say "one more and I clear the gallery."
Other members of council expressed similar sentiments to Hawkins. A key swing vote, Councillor Jason Mancinelli, made known he wouldn’t be in favour of the motion either, saying “it’s not because I don’t see the problem. It’s because of the divisiveness of this policy in our city.”
"While we're trying to fix a problem that has so many in danger, for us to stop and argue and accuse, I don't think it's helpful to any of the people who actually need our help, and I think that's heartbreaking in itself."
When final voting took place on the four motions, several more who had remained in the gallery disgustedly got up to leave.
In speaking to reporters afterwards, Masters explained her rationale for why the vote went the way it did, particularly on the first motion to declare a houselessness crisis.
"The motion itself, if I were to summarize councillors' comments, was performative. And we have a plan to end homelessness, we have clearly outlined within that plan our investment which we have far exceeded... that's still the plan we're following" said Masters. "Provincial and federal governments are keenly aware of our city and every other city in this province…everybody is talking about this particular issue which was exacerbated during COVID(-19), we know that, and has been amplified again through the opioid crisis."
She summarized the motion as "making statements for performance when really what we are interested is action and funding for the things that we need."
When asked if she considered motions like this to be helpful, Masters said "no, they are not helpful."
"At the end of the day from our relationships with community-based organizations, with ministry officials, with other elected officials either provincially or federally, those relationships take time, you have to build trust, you have to be able to be in the closed. room and be able to have honest conversations about what are you sitting on the streets... The feedback we've receive from community based organizations who work in this world have been that this can be incredibly disruptive to the relationships in that fragile ecosystem that occurs on the streets, for how folks get outreach, how they connect with services and the relationships that are being established."
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