SASKATOON — Lynnett Boris expressed dismay at the government’s inaction in addressing concerns at King Edward Place, an apartment complex managed by the Saskatoon Housing Authority. She spoke on behalf of other tenants who fear being evicted from the housing facility if they become vocal about their living conditions.
Boris, who has mobility issues and uses a scooter to get around, lives on the main floor in one of the units that is accessible for disabled residents. Her suite is close to the doors that go directly to the stairs, which is why she often hears people walking the hallway and going in and out of the building in the middle of the night. The smoke detector also concerns her.
“It's supposed to have an alarm on it, and it does, but you can barely hear the alarm. What should I do about an alarm if I'm sleeping in the middle of the night? The alarm should be somehow connected to either the fire department or the police department,” said Boris on Tuesday, April 16, outside King Edward Place, noting that sometimes she feels unsafe in her apartment.
“Half of all windows on the main floor are solid panes; you can open the other half with a screen or have a screen on them. Mine’s screen had been slashed a couple of times. I have a lockbox on my door so that my care aides can lock the doors after they leave at night — that's been stolen and found on the second or third floors.”
She added that her unit is at the corner of the building, and she witnessed someone coming out. When she checked, she saw items scattered, including makeup, ID and coins down the stairwell — a pile that had fallen out of a person’s backpack and a purse — making her wonder whether it was stolen.
Boris, who moved into King Edward Place in 2009, said tenants have raised concerns through emails, phone calls and photos of broken security doors and unsafe stairwells.
“We registered complaints to our tenant coordinator, and she shrugged it off, and she has told other people interested in moving in that the residents of King Edward Place are a bunch of liars, and they exaggerate about what's going on in the building. Things don't get fixed around here anymore,” said Boris.
She added that King Edward Place was once known as a quiet, secure complex meant for seniors and people with disabilities. The application process was strict: police checks, landlord references and a sense of dignity and order. But over time, that promise faded.
“I've just been told by the other residents that we do have a meth addict that lives on the second floor and he is renting out mattresses to homeless people, so there we've got homeless people and drug addicts walking and staying in our buildings all the time and we don't think it isn't safe for anybody — not only a senior,” said Boris.
She said residents are not asking for much — they want those who need help to get proper support — and she wants to feel safe again, with functional alarms, cameras in stairwells, doors that lock, and a community where every tenant knows one another.
“I'm wondering how the Sask. Party members would feel if one of their parents lived in a building like this? Imagine if it were your mother or your father, locked in their room every night, terrified of what’s on the other side of the door. What would they do, like put yourself in a senior's shoes and see how you feel,” said Boris.
“My screen has been slashed, [and what worries me is] one of these days that screen is not only going to be slashed but broken into, and I'm going to be helpless to defend myself.”
NDP asks government to act
Saskatoon Meewasin MLA Nathaniel Teed, whose constituency includes King Edward Place, and seniors critic Keith Jorgensen challenged the government to address the residents' concerns.
“The Sask. Party's inaction and bad policies are entirely to blame. This is supposed to be a provincially run seniors housing complex. But instead of being a safe and stable place to age, it's turned into something completely unsafe by this government's decision to house people with addiction challenges alongside seniors without proper support,” said Teed.
“What are seniors living in right now? Open drug use in the hallways, people passed out in the stairwells, bedbugs, cockroaches, blood and feces smeared on the wall, security doors held shut by bungee cords, a tenant renting out mattresses by the hour. These seniors built our province and are now scared to leave their suites or walk down the hall.”
Teed accused the Sask. Party of abandoning the seniors at King Edward Place, where, he said, they have lost the right to live with dignity and safety.
“I raised this with the Social Services Minister in August last year. I asked him for action. I asked him to join me on a pre-election tour of this facility. There was no response to that request, and we've still seen no action. I'm calling again: tour this building, meet with residents and fix these problems now.”
Jorgensen added that the facility has not been properly maintained, particularly emergency exits and security doors, making it unsafe for residents. He said the SHA has lost track of who lives in the building.
“You can't just throw people who are previously homeless and struggling with addictions into a seniors’ home and cross your fingers and hope that everything is going to turn out well. This isn't a good situation for everyone, and we've seen this happen in numerous facilities across the province,” said Jorgensen.
“Seniors shouldn't have to feel like they're prisoners in their units, and they shouldn't have to get up in front of TV cameras and pressure the Sask. Party into doing the right thing. They deserve security. They deserve dignity, and they deserve action from this government. We urge the government to urgently and immediately rectify the situation in King Edward and other similar facilities across the province.”
Minister Jenson responds
The issue was brought up in the legislature this week. Speaking Tuesday afternoon, Social Services Minister Terry Jenson said that King Edward Place is a 55-and-over building and has not been opened to other tenants.
"Any time we have complaints that come in we are more than willing to go investigate those to make sure," Jenson said. "Again, safety and security of tenants within public housing, especially when it comes to seniors, is extremely important."
Jenson did not get into specifics on the nature of the concerns, but said tenants had raised safety issues, and the ministry was trying to determine the extent of the situation.
Natasha Sebastian, director of housing operations for Sask. Housing, said they had heard concerns from one resident in particular.
"The housing authority, with any situation, looks into these situations in depth," said Sebastian. "Like any other landlord we are to abide by the Residential Tenancies Act. And if there are any lease violations such as unwarranted guests, the Housing Authority looks into that further to make sure that those concerns have some supporting evidence to it."
Sebastian said security cameras have been installed in the building’s common areas for some time, and more recently, the housing authority has had security on site four nights a week.
The security company has “reported no recent concerns they are aware of,” she said.
"This goes back to if there are concerns coming in — and there are — we’re going to continue to look into this to determine exactly what is happening here," said Jenson.
"We take that building's security pretty seriously. We want to ensure it's a safe residence for these seniors. If there are any other concerns from other tenants, for instance, if they let the Housing Authority know, we can continue to look into this to see exactly what is happening here, but there seems to be a disconnect. And we want to make sure we are doing our utmost to keep this building as safe and secure as possible."
With files from John Cairn
