Existing affordable housing units are full and new units are unavailable in Bonnyville and Cold Lake.
The waiting list for affordable housing in Bonnyville has doubled in recent months, as the demand for housing and cost of rent continue to climb. The jump has many in the region concerned over the lack of housing for middle to low-income families and those with special needs.
“The waiting list has been higher in Cold Lake for quite some time…(but) Bonnyville has just caught up in the past four or five months,” said Bonnyville Coun. Ray Prevost. “It is concerning that the waiting list in Bonnyville has grown so rapidly.”
The Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation, the local management body responsible for subsidized housing in the region, has eight two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units in Bonnyville; 11 one-bedroom, 17 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units in Cold Lake and a pair of two-bedroom and three-bedroom units in Ardmore.
The monthly rent is based on 30 per cent of the household's total income and includes a fridge, a stove, heat and water. Tenants are responsible for paying for power and if they choose cable, phone and Internet.
The aim of the units is to serve as temporary homes for families in the Lakeland to “get back on their feet” by renting a home at a reduced, more reasonable rate.
The problem, according to Chris Vining, vice-chair on the Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation's board, is families are unable to afford to transition out of the affordable housing units.
“What has happened in the past is a family moves in, they are on a reduced rent, they get back on their feet, both people get back to work and eventually they are making enough money where they can go back on the market and get a rental,” said Vining, who is also a Cold Lake Councillor.
“What's happening now is as rental prices increase, those families are getting back on their feet, both people are back working, but they still can't afford outside rent. We have families that just aren't moving. They are staying with us for a much longer period of time which means that we just don't have the turnover to accommodate more people.”
The Foundation also offers two provincial government programs, providing direct-to-tenant rent supplements and private landlord rent supplements.
Vining says that those supplement programs “have been trimmed in the last several provincial budgets,” which has cut back on the amount of families who can benefit from them.
An Alberta Municipal Affairs major funding initiative to increase affordable housing ran from 2007 to 2012, bringing the total number of affordable housing units in the province up to 12,000.
According to Trisha Anderson, Public Affairs officer with Alberta Municipal Affairs, the government doesn't have any new money allotted to affordable housing at this time, but plans to explore different options with municipalities.
“We are going to work with the Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation to develop an updated business plan and have them come forth with what their pressure is in terms of housing and look at some funding options. We will ask them to bring a plan forward in the fall,” said Anderson.
She also mentioned that the government is on the verge of launching a new affordable housing lending program.
“The Government of Alberta recently approved the Alberta Social Housing Corporation to have the authority to lend to eligible housing providers for projects that could add to housing supply,” said Anderson. “What that means is that instead of the Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation going to the municipality to borrow money for a project they may be able to come to the Alberta Social Housing Corporation and then we would lend them the money.”
Details and regulations around the lending program “are still under development and will be announced when they are ready,” which Anderson says could be as early as this summer.
As for Prevost and Vining, they have their own ideas for solutions to the lack of affordable housing in the region.
“We have a lot of fair-sized single family houses. One of the things we have talked about is divesting some of those assets and taking that money and putting it back over into row housing, duplexes or four-plexes, so that we can build a better inventory that addresses our needs better,” said Vining, who feels selling medium-sized single-family houses to buy several smaller homes would benefit the region by increasing the supply of housing to better accommodate low-income families in need.
Prevost, who is also on the Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation board, has another idea when it comes to fixing the problem.
“Instead of having all of those houses and units, I would like to convince the government to sell them all and turn around and build an apartment type complex,” said Prevost, who feels having everyone all under one roof would cut down on maintenance and heating costs.
With the waiting lists expanding to include over 80 families in the Lakeland, the board is pressing to solve the issue sooner than later. Members are lobbying the provincial government to allow them to sell the board's assets and reinvest the money in more homes.
“We are hopeful that in the next little while we would be able to start getting out of some of those high costs assets that we have and move into stuff that is more appropriate for our clientele,” said Vining.
