Meth in stairwells, feces smeared: Seniors resort to ‘safety squad’ at Saskatoon housing complex

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Seniors in Saskatoon are raising the alarm about dangerous conditions at the Scott and Forget Towers.

At a media conference held in front of the buildings on Wednesday, residents were joined by Saskatoon Eastview NDP MLA Matt Love and Meara Conway, the Opposition critic for social services and housing, where they outlined concerns about deteriorating living conditions.

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Conway said the issues residents iare experiencing, which included a fire that was recently set inside, along with fecal matter smeared in the elevators, are a result of the provincial government’s approach to dealing with rising homelessness and addictions.

Conway said the province has put people with complex needs and addictions into housing intended for seniors when they need to be in environments where they are properly supported.

“The answer to 17 years of Sask. Party mismanagement and neglect is not to throw everyone together in one building without planning and the right resources,” she said.

Residents of the Scott and Forget Towers are not alone; she has heard from people in Moose Jaw and Regina with similar problems, she said.

“It’s clearly the product of a change of policy around how to house folks across the province.”

One of the residents who spoke to media was Carol Koffler, who said she first noticed the problems beginning in the building around January. She said residents were not given advance notice about people with complex needs being moved into the building.

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Koffler said she has personal experience dealing with family members with addictions issues, which made her all the more concerned when she started seeing people with those issues come into the building.

“I am scared for our safety in this building, and that is my biggest concern.”

Koffler said the Saskatoon Housing Authority (SHA), which owns and maintains the building, has been made aware of the issues and has not taken any concrete steps to deal with the problems. The issue of homelessness is an important one that needs to be dealt with properly, she said.

“Nobody should be homeless, but mixing addicts with seniors is not the answer.”

The deteriorating safety situation at the towers has led to residents taking steps to try to protect themselves.

Janet Oglestone, a member of the building’s safety and awareness group, which has been working to bring the issues to the housing authority’s attention, said her next-door neighbour is regularly drinking and smoking in his unit — including smoking meth.

“You wake up in the middle of the night, your eyes are burning, you can’t breath, you have a headache,” she said.

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Oglestone said she has also had to call police due to fights going on in the neigbouring unit more than once.

The situation does not fall only at the feet of the housing authority, but at levels of government that are not doing enough to combat the issues, she said.

“I see the civic and provincial governments as offloading all these people, the homeless, the addicted, the mental health cases, onto seniors.”

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