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The report says the role of the social determinants of health — the social and economic factors that influence someone’s health — was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Transportation and Access

Transportation has a large role in creating community inclusion, with free transit an important response that likely alleviated pressures around accessing community services, the report says.

Those without access to transit initially faced challenges getting tested due to lacking transportation before a core community testing site at the Princess Alexandra School was set up.

The site was “critical infrastructure” to ensure people had access to testing and potential isolation, but a means to bring testing to people was identified as a gap by community based organizations.

Access to transportation also largely means access to food supports. White Buffalo Youth Lodge has been providing more than 3,000 daily meals for families in at-risk neighbourhoods and people experiencing homelessness in the city as part of the response.

However, the noted increase in people seeking food services might not reflect the true extent of the problem due to concerns around both the stigma of accessing them and the safety of public transit, the report says.

It recommends investigating fare-based to ensure equal access and potentially implementing policies laid out by poverty-reduction groups in the city, like providing free transit on certain routes or during the winter.

Ongoing Supports

The pandemic response highlighted gaps in policy for supporting community-based organizations and the need for greater urgency in implementing community-based poverty reduction strategies.

The report says that funding for the Inter-Agency Response has not been consistent and support for critical supplies is something still needed by many organizations.

Organizations noted a lack of clear policy especially when it came to housing — ensuring safe isolation, transitional housing for inmates being released and keeping COVID out of the city’s shelter system.

The provincial government came under criticism after 10 of the Saskatchewan Housing Authority’s 350 vacant units in Saskatoon were made available for use and a social services pandemic plan included a one-time $171,000 payment to be divided among the province’s 10 shelters.

Moving Forward

Those gaps continue into the province’s reopen plan, the report says, with a “loud silence” on how organizations should proceed regarding reopening and how to transition from the hubs model to regular service delivery.

Organizations expressed concerns about whether the economic downtown from the pandemic could lead to future austerity budgets and policies that could lead to cuts.

Aside from service access, the organizations said their clients were feeling loneliness and could face long-term negative mental health outcomes, with the potential for a “shadow” or “echo epidemic” in mental health, especially for certain vulnerable populations under new additional stressors.