By Kurtis Doering

21 rooms at Northwoods Inn deemed unfit to live in

May 27, 2015 | 5:37 PM

Several rooms at the Northwoods Inn and Suites on Idylwyld Drive in Saskatoon have been deemed “not fit for occupation” following inspections Tuesday.

Eight of those rooms were occupied at the time according to Saskatoon Health Region deputy medical health officer Micheal Schwand. 16 other occupied rooms were found to have “serious deficiencies.”

“Some of the things would include serious problems with the plumbing, such that there was water soaking the carpets for example, as well as evidence of the presence of vermin; insects and mice for example,” Schwand said.

Representatives from the health region, Saskatoon police, fire and protective services and public health also inspected 34 vacant rooms, 13 of which were also deemed unfit to live in.

The Ministry of Social Services was also on hand to help that those currently receiving benefits, find alternative living arrangements.

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“One of the problems with these rooms is that they’re licensed as a hotel effectively, but many of these rooms are occupied in a very long term way,” Schwand said. “So people are trying to do their best to use these spaces to make a home in spite of the fact that these are not licensed as residential tenancies.”

Jeff Reddekop with Social Services said there are roughly 30 people on income assistance currently living, by choice, at the Northwoods Inn, though he added that number tends to fluctuate.

“We want to continue to see people housed, and we actually want to seek, if possible, better housing conditions for everybody,” Schwand said. He added the problems they found could be fixed fairly quickly, should the Northwoods management choose to do so. 
 
As of Wednesday, four of the former residents of the Northwoods had relocated to the Lighthouse Assisted Living Centre.

 – With files from News Talk’s Ashley Wills, and Bryn Levy

panews@jpbg.ca

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