After listening to last week’s panel members at the town hall meeting about affordable housing, it is official: the housing crisis has made its way over the water from Vancouver to Powell River.
Those of us working in the social sector have been ringing the alarm bells for years: the affordable rental market in Powell River was small and shrinking and a growing number of people were at risk of losing their homes or becoming homeless. Homelessness in rural communities is often invisible as people squat in the woods or stay with friends, moving from place to place. However, the recent sale of rental housing sparked by our local housing boom has visibly driven more people onto the streets.
This summer, Community Resource Centre manager Martyn Woolley saw a 30 per cent increase in the use of the centre’s services. Many residents of Powell River lost their homes or are struggling to pay their rent.
At the town hall meeting, Judy Graves, a longtime advocate for the homeless in Vancouver, labelled homelessness as a sign of a vibrant and booming city.
Although she might be right, I can only see it as the sign of a broken system.
Having people live on the street is not only inhuman, it also costs us a lot of money.
Several studies found that housing a homeless person saves our society, on average, $10,000 per person per year. These savings include the provision of appropriate support services.
Our system became broken in the 1990s when the federal government transferred its affordable-housing responsibility to the provinces and funding cuts started.
Today, only four per cent of the Canadian rental market is listed as affordable, but even those rentals are not affordable.
An affordable bachelor suite in Powell River can cost up to $600: unaffordable for people on income assistance who receive $375 for shelter.
In comparison, more than 30 per cent of the rental units in the Netherlands are affordable. As a result, Canada has close to seven times more homeless people than the Netherlands, even though only twice as many people live here.
With our mayor Dave Formosa expressing his wish to make Powell River the healthiest community in BC, the creation of affordable housing should be the city’s top priority.
Creating a municipal affordable housing stock is not only the most effective way to reduce homelessness, affordable housing also reduces poverty and improves health.
Affordable housing cannot be left to private parties as a rent of less than $600 per month does not cover building expenses. While lobbying for increased federal and provincial funding should continue, our local government cannot use the downloading of housing responsibilities as an excuse to sit back.
I challenge our city to bring local charities, service clubs, Powell River Community Foundation, Powell River Community Forest, real estate agents and local developers together to establish a municipal-owned, affordable housing stock.
Taking a leadership role in affordable housing would be a great step toward becoming the healthiest community in BC.
Christien Kaaij is a community developer and owner of Alof!i Consultancy. She has conducted several studies on affordable housing and homelessness.
