Some Saskatchewan transition houses receiving more funding despite possibly serving less people: auditor's report
Saskatchewan's provincial auditor says some of the province's transition spaces and second housing facilities are receiving more funding than others – despite potentially serving less people.
In her first report of 2025, Tara Clemett made six recommendations after auditing the province's provision of transitional spaces for survivors of interpersonal violence.
While the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General have implemented strategies to license and providing funding for transition houses in Saskatchewan – funding greatly varied between facilities – with no explanation as to why.
'For example, two ministry-funded transition houses in different areas of Saskatchewan with equal bed numbers had different funding by over $200,000 in 2024-25. Funding levels were not based on the extent of survivors served,' Clemett outlined in the report.
Without detailed funding analysis, the auditor says the ministry can't rationalize why a transition house with less spaces or fewer people may receive more funding than one with more spaces or people living under its roof.
'This is not an effective allocation of resources,' she said.
Other recommendations include periodic inspections of transition houses to assess if they meet requirements. According to the auditor, it was discovered that only one of 12 transition houses reported completing trauma-informed training.
Verification of periodic criminal record checks for staff was another recommendation – after the auditor discovered a staff member did not have one on file.
The report also called for better record keeping of 'key performance information' with senior management to create better strategies that address performance shortfalls.
'Our analysis of turn-away rates at the ministry-funded transition houses found 18 per cent of turn-aways that occurred between April 2023 and March 2024 resulted from capacity issues,' the report read.
Finally, the auditor recommended improvements to the licensing and funding processes for potential new transition-house employees.
'Currently the ministry relies on potential applicants contacting either the ministry directly or [getting] referred to the ministry based on inquires made to other government agencies,' the report outlined.
The report says that in 2023-24 the ministry provided $7.4 million for 12 transition-houses and $328,000 for seven second-stage houses.
During that time, funding averaged $34,895 per space and $4,289 per survivor.
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