'People try to ignore it': Regina family blames homelessness for death of relative

A Regina family is blaming homelessness for the death of a loved one. The body of 41-year-old Del Bitternose was found in North Central two days after Christmas.

Bitternose’s relatives claim he was evicted from his apartment and died while seeking refuge in a camper.

Ivy Kennedy is mourning the death of her nephew. To her, he was like a son.

“He died, he froze to death,” she said, referring to Bitternose. “So homelessness is an issue in Regina and I don’t know why people try to ignore it.”

Bitternose’s body was found in a camper unit on the 700 Block of Garnet Street on Dec. 27.

He had taken shelter there after being evicted from an apartment for non-payment of rent.

“In the winter months there should be no need to live on the streets in Regina,” Kennedy said.

The family claimed Bitternose had received payment from Social Services to cover rent but he failed to forward the money to his landlord. It’s the result of changes to the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program.

“They give the money to the client now. They don’t give the cheques out to the landlord anymore,” Kennedy explained.

“I think that’s still an issue because my nephew would be still alive today.”

The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry is not aware of the circumstances surrounding Bitternose's death but the organization has repeatedly raised concerns about changes to the SIS program.

“Many of the people that we work with are among the best budgeters that I know of. They’re better budgeters than I am. So I don’t want to take that away from everybody,” Peter Gilmer, a spokesperson for the ministry told CTV News.

“But there certainly are circumstances where it makes sense to have that direct payment.”

Social Services will make rent payments directly to landlords if a problem is identified. In the case of Del Bitternose, it came too late.