The cutting of income payments for people with disabilities is coming on September 1st.

The SaskParty Government announced in their election campaign that changes were coming to the payments due to the downfall in revenues caused by the tightness of oil and potash dollars.

What they plan to do now is use supplemental programs of income assistance. They claim it will increase equity and fairness among the recipients. 

Social Service Minister and Humboldt-Watrous MLA Donna Harpauer feels they can streamline the process to make it work for clients who may need to choose between rent or food. She said in Regina Tuesday that the timing may help them keep people cared for.

"The one good thing if there is good news in this story is we don't have low vacancies with in any centre within our province so there are options available that weren't there before. Because of the number of programs that we put in in housing we have in our own Sask Housing portfolio we have vacancies now so we have some housing available."

Harpauer says the changes will help to reduce the problems of duplicate benefits, or paying for the same needs twice. For example, the provincial government will modify the provision of transition benefits for children under the Saskatchewan Assistance Program and Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability programs. 

At the start of October they will remove the Saskatchewan Rental Housing Supplement when calculating benefits for people receiving extra income under SAP or SAID. Add those to the rental housing supplement program and there are three different avenues of payments, now they will take them all into account to find suitable financial aid.

Harpauer feels they can simplify the process to make it work for clients.

"When you have all of those things happening at once, should we be incorporating supplements within the base program instead of having it separate where you could end up getting shelter allowance through three separate envelopes, how does that make sense and how is that predictable for the clients?"

Overall about 2,700 people will be impacted.