A City’s good practice towards the elimination of discrimination

Within the framework of the Coalition’s Ten Point Plan of Action, the City of Saskatoon has launched the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership. The Partnership has been working to provide safe, permanent and affordable housing for residents of Saskatoon since 1999. Seeking to expand its role in guiding residential development, the City of Saskatoon issued a Request for Proposal, to provide multidiscipline business planning services for affordable housing. The Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnerships was selected to offer these development services and entered into a Service Agreement with the City of Saskatoon.

The project’s ambition is to bring housing to all residents, including first-time buyers, low-income families, students and seniors. Furthermore, it recognises the challenges faced by immigrant and newcomers to Saskatoon. While immigration to the City has increased by almost 70% since 2005, immigrants are often those with the highest need of affordable housing. In an effort to address the needs of new immigrants, the partnership proposes solutions to individual problems.

The Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership is designed to address some of the most significant challenges related to discrimination in housing including understanding housing needs, the limited jurisdiction of City authorities as well as newcomers’ knowledge of housing markets. The Housing Initiatives Partnership has worked with private sector builders and developers, as well as affordable housing groups to increase the number of available units in the City and its surrounding areas. Their website includes information and resources for housing providers and builders.

City Information
The City of Saskatoon is the most populous city in the province of Saskatchewan. The city had a population of 202,340 in the Canada 2006 Census.

Saskatoon has been a member of the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination since May 2005.

For more information, please visit: www.saskatoonhousingpartners.com