Minister of Social Services, Lori Carr, can’t provide basic data about the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program and how much it spends on hotel rooms for people in the program..Meara Conway, NDP critic for Social Services and Housing, shined a spotlight on the inefficiencies and lack of transparency at SIS regarding hotel spending. .“We learned last week that the Social Services ministry has no idea how many hotel rooms they’re paying for, or what it is even costing the Saskatchewan people,” said Conway..“On the one hand, this minister is broadcasting that no one will be turned away, that hotels will be made available to those that need it. But on the other, she has no idea how much this short-sighted approach is costing Saskatchewan people. She can’t even give us a ballpark figure, claiming the government doesn’t track this.”.“Wilful ignorance? Incompetence? Maybe both?”.Carr’s response was that SIS tracks hotel rooms..However, she provided no details about hotel numbers or how to find out the information..“When someone gets a hotel, that hotel is tracked with the individual and that’s how it’s done,” said Carr..The Western Standard asked Conway about Carr’s answer, “How is it possible they don’t know how many hotel rooms they are paying for?”.“I can’t imagine they don’t have a way to find this information. When someone has a hotel stay. The hotel invoices the (social) worker,” said Conway..“This information is available. Perhaps they just don’t want to share it because of what it says about how they are addressing this homeless crisis.”.Conway shared with the Western Standard that during estimates she found out about one hotel in Saskatoon, where the government pays $130 a room per night..“It can’t be a cost-effective way of addressing the housing crisis. There’s just no way they don’t have that information and we will continue to push for it,” said Conway..“It is unfathomable that this government doesn’t know what they’re spending on hotel rooms. And we will keep asking until we get a dollar figure.”.Chris Oldcorn is a Western Standard Reporter based in Regina.,coldcorn@westernstandard.news,Twitter: @chrisoldcorn,.Parler: @chrisoldcorn
