‘Lives are at risk,' advocate says as Sask. social housing units sit empty

Mandla Mthembu arrived at a social housing complex in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood to find the unit surrounded by a metal fence and boarded-up windows.

He says it's a sight he is seeing more often — social housing units sitting empty for long periods of time before being torn down, because they have not been maintained or repaired.

While these units sit vacant, hundreds of unhoused people are left to live on the streets and endure cold temperatures because of how hard it has become to access affordable housing in Saskatchewan, according to Mthembu, a community activist.

"It's just further evidence of this province looking at housing as an afterthought," he said.

"They don't care if … [homeless people] live or die, they don't care if they have what they need, and they don't care