Saskatoon dentist addresses councillors on neighbourhood ‘degradation’

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Members of city council’s planning, development and community services committee heard Wednesday from the owner of a dental clinic who is concerned about the safety and cleanliness of the street around her business.

Dr. Ephthymia Kutsogiannis told the committee she’s seen “a tremendous change” in recent months in the area around the Pleasant Hill Dental Centre, which she operates in the 1500 block of 20th Street West.

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She described what she said has effectively become “an encampment” in the area of her clinic, which is located near Prairie Harm Reduction and other organizations serving vulnerable people, including a health centre operated by the Saskatoon Tribal Council and the Westside Community Clinic.

Kutsogiannis described instances of “degradation” of the community, including having to delay appointments because of people sleeping in her doorway and refusing to leave until police arrive. She said she has found human feces in front of her business, and trash piles up daily as people offered free meals by the various organizations in the area use her property as “a garbage ground” once they’re done eating.

While she said police are helpful, she accused the city of “enabling” an unsafe situation for herself and her staff and called on city officials to “start doing something” about the issue.

Kayla Demong, Prairie Harm Reduction’s executive director, said the situation on the block outside the organization’s facility reflects a wider community problem of increased homelessness amid rising rents and a tight housing market.

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“There just really is nowhere for people to go,” she said, noting PHR and other agencies are trying to gather data to better understand where “a big increase” seen since last summer in the numbers of people seeking services is coming from.

Demong noted it’s still not determined whether the rising numbers reflect people newly arrived to the city and unable to find housing, or residents who find themselves newly homeless as the affordable housing supply shrinks.

Demong said services available for people in need have been reduced even as more people are seeking help than ever before. An overnight warming location at a nearby church closed in April and a lack of funding recently forced PHR to cut back its operating hours, she said.

She called for more resources to address homelessness, suggesting this is the best path to reducing friction between unhoused people and area businesses and residents.

PHR (formerly AIDS Saskatoon) opened its facility on 20th Street in 2019. Police created an eight-officer team in 2020 to patrol the area. Three more officers were to be added to the team effective May 1, and patrols were expected to expand to a wider portion of the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.

Police and fire services are also part of a working group trying to find ways to improve the situation in Pleasant Hill.

Demong said PHR is “absolutely” committed to ongoing work with police, fire and other services to find ways to address safety.

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