SARM says abandon buildings raise public safety concerns

Abandoned houses are raising concerns for public safety and causing a financial burden on RMs, says Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)

The issue of abandoned properties across Saskatchewan has raised concerns of public safety for rural municipalities.

As a result, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) is asking the provincial government for financial support to help address the issue.

“A lot of these buildings we’re talking about are often from villages that no longer operate,” explained SARM’s executive director Laurel Feltin.

“What happens is municipal legislation requires those RMs to take over those villages once they get to a point where they cannot operate anymore. They don’t have a council, they don’t have an administrator, they don’t have any staff anymore so an RM might take over five or six houses ... but then people just decide to move one day and they don’t tell anyone. They owe taxes to the RM and then it ends up as an abandoned property.”

Feltin shared that once it becomes the RMs responsibility, they are left with the financial burden of cleaning up derelict buildings and abandoned yard sites.

“Everything is getting more expensive. When it comes to things like hazardous materials, you can’t just take the building down simply,” voiced Feltin.

“You have to make sure you have, in some cases, an expert come in and advise you on that. The other issue is sometimes you have to transport that material a longer way.”

She also raised the concern of potential criminal activity occurring in abandoned properties.

In a statement to CTV News, the Government of Saskatchewan said they are aware of the issue and are currently “reviewing policy tools that are available to municipalities to support their decisions when it comes to managing property.”

In the meantime, they recommend RMs to create bylaws to hold property owners accountable before the issue transpires.

“Municipalities have the authority to enact a bylaw to address nuisances, including buildings in a ruinous or dilapidated state,” stated The Ministry of Government Relations.

• SARM calling for provincial funding to deal with derelict buildings, yard sites

“The bylaw would set out what constitutes a nuisance, how it will be enforced and the consequences for non-compliance, providing authority for the municipality to investigate, issue remedial orders, register interests on the land, and complete the remedy action if the property owner fails to do so. Costs can be recovered by the municipality either by civil suit or by adding the amounts to the property taxes.”

The province also stated that eligible municipalities can receive financial support through Saskatchewan’s Municipal Revenue Sharing program.

SARM stated they plan to bring forward their resolution – again - on the topic at their annual convention held on March 11.

“(RMs) have owned this responsibility for a long time. I think we’re just seeing more of it as buildings start to age and the buildings in the municipalities start to age, there’s more of these around the province,” said Feltin.

“We’re just hoping the province would meet us with a grant, to give us a portion. We’re calling for 30 per cent of the costs. Just more financial support to make sure the public is safe.”