REGINA — The state of seniors’ public housing in the province is again an issue, as the official Opposition raised concerns about conditions at a seniors highrise in downtown Regina.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck stood outside Mary Helen Herchmer Place, a 55-unit independent seniors highrise in downtown Regina, alongside seniors Marlene Robins and Doug Pelletier. There, they denounced the government over the conditions at the building.
“The buildings that we’re talking about today are too often unsafe, too often unclean, and frankly, our parents and our grandparents deserve far better,” said Beck.
Beck said residents have seen forced entries, assaults and people who “don’t live in the building passed out in common areas.”
She said that when she met with Robins, she was shown an image of a weapon found in a common area, which she described as a street weapon resembling a harpoon.
“Just imagine your parents or grandparents finding that in the common area of the building that they live in, someplace that should be their home, someplace that should be safe,” Beck said. “It’s no wonder that seniors like Marlene fear for their safety while Scott Moe and his ministers have sat on their hands and done nothing despite repeated calls for help.”
Robins said one simple measure would be installing “security cameras in and around the building and that these cameras are constantly monitored.”
She also pointed to issues with the lock on the back door, which she said can be “easily unscrewed and removed by anyone with a screwdriver.” Robins added residents have “also witnessed that people are trying to get into our building. It’s actually terrifying as a senior.”
Robins said there have been “several issues where we have approached the Government of Saskatchewan Housing, and these issues simply have not been addressed.”
She cited an October incident where a recycling bin was set on fire and 911 was called; a Nov. 10 incident where residents waited two hours for maintenance after screws were removed from a security door, leaving it unable to lock; a February 2024 incident when the water heating system broke; and a seven-month period when one of the building’s two elevators was out of service.
“We feel abandoned by the Saskatchewan Party government,” Robins said.
Pelletier, who said he lives at the Davis Mews senior complex in Regina, spoke about safety concerns there, including guests of tenants roaming the building at all hours, including one person found sleeping in the laundry area.
Pelletier said there was also a request for cameras at the back doors of the building.
“And I brought that up with Regina Housing and they said, oh, everybody wants cameras. Nobody’s getting any cameras. That’s it. So that’s how that was handled,” said Pelletier.
He also raised maintenance concerns, including snow removal, as well as “bed bug issues and infestation.”
Pelletier said residents are asking the government to “take our issues seriously and respond to them in a timely manner.”
“Everything always takes so long to get repaired. Or [they] just simply ignore it. Like we feel like we’re trying to, we want to be treated special, but we don’t. We want to be treated like seniors. And that’s all we’re asking.”
Beck said similar issues have been raised at seniors complexes across the province in recent years.
“These issues have been brought up time and time again, not only by these residents, but others in these buildings and in buildings right across the province. What we see here is a pattern of neglect, of mismanagement of our social housing, our housing stock through Saskatchewan Housing Authority, and increasingly a deterioration of services that are available to seniors in these buildings, with safety and maintenance issues topping the list.”
Saskatchewan Housing Corporation responds
In a statement the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation said that it “works with housing authorities and tenants to effectively handle all concerns in a timely manner as we understand health and safety is a priority for our tenants.”
Sask Housing said that security measures are currently in place at both Mary Helen Herchmer Place and Davis Mews, including fob entry systems and security cameras.
