Week in Review: October 3, 2025

Here’s a roundup of housing news and issues that we noticed this week:

From ECOHH’s social media

• Housing security for everyone is a vital part of strong healthy community, so it is an important issue to keep in mind while deciding on the election of municipal leaders. Here is some perspective from ECOHH

• Mayoral candidate Andrew Knack housing policy document

• Mayoral candidate Michael Walters comments on housing

• Mayoral candidate Rahim Jaffer news release on housing

• News about how Regina is treating people who are homeless--Statement from the Executive Director:

The City of Regina opted in to the Public Spaces Act last night, which was presented to improve safety, but will cause profound harm to some of Regina’s most vulnerable folks – those who use substances, people who are unhoused, and those living with poverty and trauma. True community safety comes from investment in housing, mental health, harm reduction and supports, not by bylaws that punish people for being poor, sick and experiencing multiple challenges.

By displacing individuals from public spaces without addressing the underlying drivers of substance use, poverty, and housing insecurity, the Act creates barriers to accessing harm reduction services, health care, and social supports. This displacement will increase health risks, including overdose and transmission of infectious diseases, while also straining emergency and health systems.

Regina does not need more laws that punish people for being poor or unwell!  What we need is housing, mental health supports and evidence-based harm reduction services. True community safety comes from lifting people up—not trampling on them and pushing them out of sight.

I call on the city to work alongside community organizations and people with lived experience to build a healthier, safer Regina that all residents can call home.

Deeply disappointed!

Shiny Mary Varghese, 

Executive Director,

AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan Inc. (APSS)

Relevant housing news 

• Concerns over a rise in homeless refugees as temporary housing fund ends

• Rent increases coming for AISH recipients living in community housing starting Oct. 1

• People with chronic mental illness stuck in N.B. psychiatric institutions waiting for housing

• Rooming houses

• Toronto ER costs, visits by frequent patients reduced with new housing model

• Home affordability improves sharply in Canada's most expensive cities: Budget watchdog

• Homes not handcuffs: Elizabeth Fry Society program helps Sask. women stay housed

• 'We can no longer build what people can afford': Warning for Vancouver real estate as 2,500 condos sit unsold

• Renting an apartment on P.E.I. requires wages well above minimum, new report shows

• Most Winnipeggers want limitations on homeless encampments, poll suggests

• Homeless shelters are safe havens. But what if it’s near your house?

• Six people arrested after Dufferin Grove encampment cleared for 2nd time in a few days

• Montreal says new housing fund will help create 6,300 non-market units in 10 years

• B.C. homeless count shows rising numbers in 12 of 20 communities surveyed

• Sudbury homeless advocate pushes for earlier start for 24/7 warming centres

• Number of homeless seniors rises in Red Deer

As always, we recommend checking out these sources for additional information on housing and homelessness

• Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) 

• Canadian Centre for Housing Rights

• Canadian Housing & Renewal Association (CHRA) 

• Federal Housing Advocate

• Homeless Hub (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness) 

• Homeward Trust 

• Housing Complex  

• Make the Shift   

• National Right to Housing Network (NRHN)  

• Social Housing & Human Rights (SHHR) 

• Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network