Legal But Not Just: What Evictions Reveal About Power, Policy, and Precedent By Daniel Hearn

In Saskatchewan, eviction reflects more than individual hardship—it reflects how our systems are designed. According to legal researcher and professor Sarah Buhler at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, housing insecurity is not an accidental outcome of our policies. It’s a predictable result of how power, precedent, and law converge in the province’s eviction process.

Her research paints a troubling picture of a system that functions, but not equitably. Thousands of tribunal decisions tell the same story: a justice system that prioritizes procedure over context, and landlords' rights over housing as a human right.

Saskatchewan’s Quiet Crisis

More people in Saskatchewan are experiencing homelessness today than ever before. And increasingly, those people are tracing their circumstances back to one common starting point: eviction.

In Sarah’s analysis, the majority of evictions in Saskatchewan are the result of rental arrears—tenants simply not being able to afford rent. That’s no surprise when you consider that rents are climbing, while social assistance rates remain stagnant. The transition to Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS), the end of direct rent payments to landlords, and clawbacks to the Rental Housing Supplement have all made housing more precarious for low-income renters.

But the issue runs deeper than affordability. Sarah’s data shows that 90% of eviction applications are granted, and in many cases, the arrears are minimal—sometimes less than $10. Even though Saskatchewan’s Residential Tenancies Act includes a requirement for decisions to be “just and equitable,” tribunal rulings overwhelmingly favour landlords. Few tenants have legal representation. Many don’t even show up.

And that’s no surprise either.

From fear of facing a landlord, to trauma, mental health challenges, or lack of literacy or phone access—many tenants find the hearing process too intimidating or inaccessible. Even a tribunal held by telephone becomes a barrier when your phone is dead, blocked, or simply unavailable.

When Systems Work Together—But Not for You

It’s often said that Saskatchewan’s public systems operate in silos. But Sarah offers a different warning: sometimes systems work together—and the result is harm.

Her research includes cases where landlords collaborated with police to expedite evictions, or where tenants were forced out due to a partner’s criminal charges, even when they themselves were victims of domestic violence. In one case, a woman was evicted after her ex showed up with a sledgehammer. The hearing officer called it a “consensual fight.”

In another, a tenant was evicted for having macaroni and cheese dried on their counter. Others were evicted after being hospitalized, or after fleeing abuse.

When the legal system allows this level of punishment for life’s vulnerabilities, we aren’t enforcing fairness—we’re enforcing fragility.

Legal Unhousing, Structural Bias, and the Financialization of Shelter

Sarah is currently co-authoring a book called Legal Unhousing, which explores how different arms of law—family, criminal, housing, and beyond—contribute to people losing access to shelter. From mortgage foreclosures to incarceration to discriminatory emergency eviction powers, housing loss is often legally permitted even when it is morally questionable.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Saskatchewan has no rent control, no meaningful housing reintegration policy, and very few wraparound supports for tenants. That makes it a prime operating ground for financialized landlords—large, corporate entities who see housing as a portfolio, not a public good. And these landlords, Sarah notes, are far more likely to evict quickly and aggressively than social or individual landlords.

In her view, housing may be a commodity—but it is also a human right. The more we legislate it like a product, the more we abandon those who need it most.

Where Tenants Can Turn

Despite the barriers, there are resources working to protect tenants across the province:

• CLASSIC (Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City) offers free legal advocacy for tenants, people in prison, and others facing poverty-based legal issues.

• Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan (PLEA) provides plain-language legal information and tenant rights resources.

• Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan (PBLS) offers legal clinics, including housing support.

• Office of Residential Tenancies is where most eviction disputes are heard, but their decisions also help show the system’s gaps.

• Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership supports housing-focused initiatives and research.

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Toward a Trauma-Informed Housing System

What would a better approach look like? According to Sarah, the answers already exist—but they require meaningful investment and systemic redesign.

First, we must acknowledge that most tenants don’t skip eviction hearings because they don’t care—they skip them because they are already overwhelmed. The process itself assumes stability, but no one is being evicted because life is going well. Tenants often feel scared, hopeless, and powerless. They’re facing eviction not just with empty bank accounts, but with depleted nervous systems. A trauma-informed housing system must start from this truth.

It must also acknowledge that many tenants are entering eviction proceedings already carrying trauma inflicted by the very systems meant to protect them. Whether it’s the loss of children through child apprehension, the disorientation of reentry after incarceration, or the constant surveillance and suspicion embedded in social assistance programs, these experiences shape how tenants interact with authority. For many, the tribunal isn’t just a legal hearing—it’s another system encounter that reinforces powerlessness, shame, and fear.

• Wraparound supports for tenants facing eviction would mean embedding housing workers, mental health professionals, and income advocates into the eviction process—not just reacting to crises once a person is already on the street. These supports must be proactive, community-based, and culturally safe.

  
  

• Legal advocacy and tenant education would ensure renters know their rights long before they receive a notice. This could include workshops hosted by community legal clinics, outreach in shelters and food banks, and clearer access to plain-language resources in multiple languages and formats.

  
  

• Trauma-informed hearings would involve training adjudicators to understand the impact of poverty, intergenerational trauma, and disability on a person's ability to comply with lease terms. Hearing officers would have discretion to prioritize harm reduction, not punishment.

  
  

• Housing reintegration planning should be a coordinated part of discharge from jail, hospital, and child apprehension systems. As it stands, people are often released into homelessness from these institutions, compounding their vulnerability. Reintegration requires partnerships between corrections, healthcare, social services, and housing providers.

  
  

• Structural reforms would embed people with lived experience of eviction into decision-making bodies. Their insights should guide legislative changes, funding decisions, and public messaging about housing rights.

  
  

Sarah’s work calls us to think beyond charity, beyond temporary programs, and toward a provincial commitment to housing justice. That means treating housing not as a reward for good behaviour—but as a foundation for it.

Human Rights at the Tribunal Door

The Residential Tenancies Act in Saskatchewan says eviction must be “just and equitable.” But who decides what justice means?

In many cases, those decisions are made by hearing officers under extreme time pressure, often with no tenant present, no context provided, and no legal advocate to explain what really happened.

Sarah recalls one of her research participants saying: “If you haven’t been homeless, you shouldn’t be deciding that someone else should be.”

We don’t need more hearings—we need more humanity.

If you haven't watched Sarah's episode yet, find it here

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Acknowledgment: This conversation and article were made possible with support from the Saskatoon Community Foundation, whose commitment to community-led change continues to drive innovation and equity in our province.