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Amanda Carlson has welcomed 10 women into the Kate’s Place drug transition house since mid-July, and it’s been a bumpy ride.

The trouble is money. She said it has taken several weeks for her clients to get their cheques from the Ministry of Social Services. Half the new arrivals have faced delays, according to Carlson, the Regina-based program’s managing director.

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Even when the money finally came, she feared it would quickly disappear.

“We’re having difficulty collecting rent from clients,” Carlson said. “Our client base is a higher needs client base than most other landlords would experience. We house clients with addictions issues.”

“They’re collecting their money in their bank accounts and then not paying rent, because it’s a trigger for them.”

Carlson connects the troubles to the launch of the brand-new Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program on July 15. Under the old system, clients could choose to sign the rent portion of their payments directly over to landlords. But now they don’t have that option.