Affordable Housing Strategy is as much Opportunity as it is Responsibility
Earlier this year the Daily Gleaner published a story on a family that had to move into a local motel after a rent increase forced them to give up their apartment, and about how they would soon even have to vacate the motel, and had nowhere else to go, and had no idea what they were going to do.
It was but one in a string of stories we are still seeing about New Brunswickers facing substantial rent increases, and inevitably they include someone saying they don’t know what they will do when those increases kick in. Often they are seniors on fixed incomes who had been living in those apartments for years. Where did or will they end up? Those who have the option may have moved in with their adult children. Others may have squeezed in with friends, or became homeless. Unfortunately, the media doesn’t often follow up on these stories, so we don’t know what have become of these folks.
The provincial government is going to limit rent increases to 3.9 percent, retroactive to the start of the year. But some landlords and developers seem to have found ways around the rules, often with new out-of-province owners squeezing renters with substantial rent increases for a quick profit, in most cases with so-called renovictions. Whether they get away with it over the long term remains to be seen.
It is happening because we are in the midst of an affordable housing crisis.
How did we get to this? It’s the result of a perfect storm.
1. Rents have increased on average more than 30 percent over the past 10 years.
2. Social service rates and wages have not kept up, leaving those with low-income paying far too high a percentage of their money on rent.
3. Vacancy rates are very low, in fact just over 1% in Fredericton, creating an imbalance between renters and landlords.
Magnifying these problems is the fact that the federal government some 30 years ago significantly cut back investments in social housing, a decision that has now come back to haunt. Although the current federal government is investing more in housing now, there’s a lot of catching up to be done. There’s no quick fix for a problem that was 30 years in the making.
But in Fredericton, the pieces are in place to meet this crisis head-on. We need only the political will, and I like to think we have it. The next few weeks could tell the tale.
Image Credit: Engage Fredericton
Polling shows that we want our elected officials to do more in this area. The council we elected in our last municipal election reflects this. And they have already acted on it by commissioning an affordable housing strategy. The consultant has come back with 13 recommendations. The draft of their report is now available for public input and in fact there’s a public survey on the city’s Engage Fredericton website and an online presentation is set for Wednesday at noon.
I don’t pretend to know the viability or complications of all of the recommendations, but it looks to me that if the city council embraces them all, or at least most of them, it could be a game changer. Some of the recommendations require provincial support but we need this. Consider that one out of every eight families in Fredericton is living in housing classified as inadequate, unsuitable or unaffordable. That includes one-half of the city’s single parent families. It’s serious.
Years ago when I was on the board of what was then called the Emergency Shelter (now St. John House and Grace House homeless shelters), when we went to city council looking for help the response was an emphatic no, on the rationale that it wasn’t a city problem because housing was provincial jurisdiction. Thankfully there’s been a sea change in attitude with today’s council realizing affordable housing is also about safety, so it is a shared responsibility.
But it’s not just a responsibility; it’s an opportunity. Economists Richard Saillant and David Campbell, among others, have long stressed how badly we need increased immigration for economic prosperity, and that the key to attracting and keeping immigrants is affordable housing. So, seriously addressing affordable housing has the potential to pay off economically. So rather than looking at it as an expense, the city should look at it as an investment in the city’s future.
Image: 12 neighbours community
Whether it’s the John Howard Society and the former City Motel, or Marcel Lebrun’s 12 Neighbours tiny homes initiative, there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things to help the homeless and near homeless in Fredericton, but, as the statistics above show, much still needs to be done.
Adopting the Affordable Housing Strategy could help a lot.
From where I sit it’s win win win. Obviously for people who are under severe stress for need of affordable housing, but also for the city’s reputation as a city that cares, and for the economic benefits that come with having a population that can afford to live, work, and spend their money here.
Thanks for reading. Shares are appreciated.
Cover photo credit: Vika Strawberrika
