Affordable housing receives $9.2M; mixed feelings
By Bryn Hadubiak
Photo by Bryn Hadubiak. City of Regina councillor Bob Hawkins said the City is pleased with the $9.2 million funding for affordable housing in the province.
Around $9.2 million is going towards funding affordable housing in the 2014 Saskatchewan provincial budget, but while some welcome the news, not everybody is celebrating.
“It’s the first year of a five-year program we’ve signed with the federal government,” said June Draude, minister of social services. “It’s given us a lot more flexibility to either spend money on affordable housing or seniors housing – basically given the province the room to decide what our needs are.”
The rental housing supplement fund will receive around $39 million, an increase of $4.5 million, and Habitat for Humanity is set to receive $750,000 to develop 12 new homes across the province.
With an increase to an average of three per cent in the provincial vacancy rate now, Saskatchewan is heading in the right direction, Draude said.
“We know that the population is going to increase, so my goal is to ensure that we keep our eyes on the needs of the people that are vulnerable and need government support, knowing that the market will look after those who can afford their own homes or are moving along the housing continuum from rental spaces to home ownership,” she said.
Bob Hawkins, city councillor for Ward 2 in Regina, said the City’s pleased by the funding.
“The mayor has made affordable housing one of the key priorities in the city,” Hawkins said. “We’re anxious to get (our) vacancy rental rate up to three per cent. This will help us with our housing initiatives. We’re very pleased the province has heard our affordable housing concerns and have acted on them.”
Some, however, say the funding isn’t enough, and isn’t solving the overall problems that caused the affordable housing crunch in the first place.
“(It’s) a pretty small amount, a limited response in what’s an on-going housing crisis in the province,” said Peter Gilmer, a member of the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry.
Instead of paying more by dealing only with the symptoms of poverty, the government ought to create a housing strategy that seeks to eliminate it, by deeming housing to be a right for all in the province, Gilmer said.
“The new funding is split between things like supplements for affordable housing programs, so when you break down $9.2M in additional funds, it is a very small or very limited response,” Gilmer said.
David Forbes, the NDP’s housing critic, said the opposition is concerned the $9.2 million will be diverted eventually to the $39 million rental supplements budget instead of building more affordable apartments.
“We’ve heard the minister just recently talk about the fact that the vacancy rate has gone up, but that’s not a very good measure of what’s happening in the housing milieu … rents are so expensive that (people are) doubling up,” said Forbes.
People are being forced to rent places nobody should live in, and the province needs more to inspect and improve the quality of rental stock in Saskatchewan, according to Forbes.
“They talked about some of the $9.2 million going towards improving the rental stock, but every year that money runs out early on. It’s oversubscribed and they clearly don’t provide enough for it,” he said.
Forbes said it wasn’t long ago housing was considered affordable if less than 30 per cent of your income was going to pay for your rent.
“Now that’s way above that: 40, even in some cases 50, per cent,” said Forbes. “(The finance minister) may be taking an average rent, but with an average there’s lot below it and lots above it, and it’s very hard for a lot of people to make ends meet.”
Draude emphasized working with various communities to make sure more spaces are available is a priority for the government.
“But at the same time, we’re not going to overbuild to the point that programs have done in the past,” she said.
