Lauren Boothby - Thursday - Edmonton Journal
Affordable housing should be treated as core infrastructure that all levels of government invest in long-term as Edmonton anticipates a growing need, says the mayor.
Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen, left, Tourism Minister and Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, and David Mitton, president of Leston Holdings (1980) Ltd., announce the Heritage Flats project, that includes 102 affordable housing units for members of Enoch Cree Nation, in southwest Edmonton on March 15, 2022.
During a discussion of Edmonton’s affordable housing strategy at city hall this week, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he wants to see a shift in how the city, and others, think about this topic. Edmonton’s recent housing needs assessment found 59,000 households, mostly renters, will be in core housing need by 2026 .
“We never stop building roads, we never stop building the LRT, we never stop building fire halls and recreation centres, but we tend to stop building affordable housing — not just us, but every order of government,” Sohi said at the community and public services committee on Tuesday. “We have always seen affordable housing as an add-on, not as core infrastructure. I think that’s why I would like to see that mind shift.
“Affordable housing is so integral to our economic growth, to our community’s well-being, and the well-being of individuals and families,” he told reporters.
The mayor wondered whether the city could look at converting empty commercial or office spaces into housing. City administration said they are investigating this idea.
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“We never stop building roads, we never stop building the LRT, we never stop building fire halls and recreation centres, but we tend to stop building affordable housing — not just us, but every order of government,” Sohi said at the community and public services committee on Tuesday. “We have always seen affordable housing as an add-on, not as core infrastructure. I think that’s why I would like to see that mind shift.
“Affordable housing is so integral to our economic growth, to our community’s well-being, and the well-being of individuals and families,” he told reporters.
The mayor wondered whether the city could look at converting empty commercial or office spaces into housing. City administration said they are investigating this idea.
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Sohi said the city also needs to figure out how to mobilize the private sector and gather support from the province and the federal government to fill the need.
Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz said Edmonton needs a regulatory environment that encourages investment in housing, and other governments need to chip in as well.
Janz pointed to renters protection policies, vacant lot or homes taxes, and inclusionary zoning — a policy that requires an affordable housing contribution through the development approval process — that he would like to see contemplated for the city’s refreshed approach.
Inclusionary zoning is a power currently available to the city under the Municipal Government Act, although Edmonton is not using it.
“Trusting the development and real estate industry to solve homelessness is like asking grocery stores to end hunger — it’s not going to happen,” Janz said on Tuesday. “We need to look at conditions and to treat housing the way we do other institutions that require investment, require regulation, require a serious contemplation of how we, as the city, can get the outcomes that we want.
“I’m really worried about what we’re seeing in other cities around the world where the financialization of housing is putting homes out of (reach) for the vast majority of citizens.”
Susan Morrissey, executive director of the Edmonton Social Planning Council, agrees with the mayor that affordable housing needs to be treated as core infrastructure.
The more people that are housed, the better quality of life they can have, and the more they can contribute to the community, she said.
“Housing is a right, not a privilege. We should all be able to have a roof over our head, so the fact that the supply and the demand don’t square together … has been troubling for many years, and it continues to be an issue,” she said in an interview Thursday.
“It’s been neglected. Both new builds and also maintenance of existing housing, and it does come down to government.
Edmonton’s housing needs assessment identifies the withdrawal of funding for affordable housing in the 1990s by all orders of government as responsible for creating the gap that the market alone cannot solve.
Deeply subsidized homes needed
Edmonton’s affordable housing plan approved in 2018 aimed to build 2,500 units from 2019-2022 with a $132 million investment. By the end of the year, the city will have built 2,842 affordable homes, including 704 supportive housing units, in this time period. Another 1,559 social housing units were renovated.
However, the vast majority of the units the city helped pay for in this period are “near market” rentals, meaning they can charge up to 80 per cent of current market rates. This is much higher than what a significant number of Edmontonians can afford, according to the housing needs assessment.
By September, apart from the supportive housing units, only 36 of these new homes were deeply subsidized.
Christel Kjenner, director of the city’s affordable housing and homelessness files, said the updated plan will look at how to create more deeply-subsidized homes.
“The market alone will not provide adequate affordable housing for all income levels, so there needs to be investment by all three orders of government in affordable housing,” she said.
Provincial and federal housing plans
Last month, the Alberta government announced plans to sell off, transfer or redevelop affordable housing stock which critics say will worsen an already dangerous shortage.
Dylan Topal, spokesman for Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon, said while direction could change under the new premier, Alberta’s current 10-year affordable housing strategy aims to expand help to 25,000 more households, and that they consider “affordable housing” to be housing expenses not exceeding 30 per cent of household income.
In an interview Thursday, he said the new management plan won’t mean people lose their affordable housing spot.
“I want to be explicitly clear … we aren’t going to be selling apartments where some people are living in some of them, we’re not going to be kicking people out … I will strongly imagine that is not going to change,” he said.
“The properties that we’re going to be selling, these are under-used, or not utilized at all for affordable housing … we can sell them to a developer, and when we get the proceeds from the sale we can reinvest that back into affordable housing.”
Asked whether the reason they aren’t being used is because the province hasn’t maintained them, Topal said this isn’t the case.
For example, one building up for sale soon in Edmonton isn’t housing people, is “an eyesore,” and it will be sold to fund more affordable homes, he said.
“Some of these buildings, to renovate them, it would cost us more to do that than to just build new. We’re being good stewards of government-owned assets and of taxpayers’ dollars and doing these things effectively.”
He said the province will work with municipalities as their housing needs change using a new questionnaire.
In 2019, the federal and Alberta governments signed an agreement to spend $339 million each as part of the National Housing Strategy.
Arevig Afarian, press secretary to federal Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen, said the federal government could not answer a question about how much more affordable housing, and of what type, will be built in Edmonton because of confidential agreements.
So far, she said nearly $90 million has been contributed toward projects by the federal government in Alberta to help more than 31,000 households either through building new housing, repairing of existing housing, or through rental supports.
“We look forward to continue working with Alberta to keep investing in affordable and safe housing options for Albertans and Edmontonians through this bilateral agreement,” she stated.
“We are committed to close the housing gap and ensuring all Canadians access safe and affordable housing that is right for their needs.”
Topal said the province has fulfilled its side of the funding agreements with the federal government.
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
Sohi said the city also needs to figure out how to mobilize the private sector and gather support from the province and the federal government to fill the need.
Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz said Edmonton needs a regulatory environment that encourages investment in housing, and other governments need to chip in as well.
Janz pointed to renters protection policies, vacant lot or homes taxes, and inclusionary zoning — a policy that requires an affordable housing contribution through the development approval process — that he would like to see contemplated for the city’s refreshed approach.
Inclusionary zoning is a power currently available to the city under the Municipal Government Act, although Edmonton is not using it.
“Trusting the development and real estate industry to solve homelessness is like asking grocery stores to end hunger — it’s not going to happen,” Janz said on Tuesday. “We need to look at conditions and to treat housing the way we do other institutions that require investment, require regulation, require a serious contemplation of how we, as the city, can get the outcomes that we want.
“I’m really worried about what we’re seeing in other cities around the world where the financialization of housing is putting homes out of (reach) for the vast majority of citizens.”
Susan Morrissey, executive director of the Edmonton Social Planning Council, agrees with the mayor that affordable housing needs to be treated as core infrastructure.
The more people that are housed, the better quality of life they can have, and the more they can contribute to the community, she said.
“Housing is a right, not a privilege. We should all be able to have a roof over our head, so the fact that the supply and the demand don’t square together … has been troubling for many years, and it continues to be an issue,” she said in an interview Thursday.
“It’s been neglected. Both new builds and also maintenance of existing housing, and it does come down to government.
Edmonton’s housing needs assessment identifies the withdrawal of funding for affordable housing in the 1990s by all orders of government as responsible for creating the gap that the market alone cannot solve.
Deeply subsidized homes needed
Edmonton’s affordable housing plan approved in 2018 aimed to build 2,500 units from 2019-2022 with a $132 million investment. By the end of the year, the city will have built 2,842 affordable homes, including 704 supportive housing units, in this time period. Another 1,559 social housing units were renovated.
However, the vast majority of the units the city helped pay for in this period are “near market” rentals, meaning they can charge up to 80 per cent of current market rates. This is much higher than what a significant number of Edmontonians can afford, according to the housing needs assessment.
By September, apart from the supportive housing units, only 36 of these new homes were deeply subsidized.
Christel Kjenner, director of the city’s affordable housing and homelessness files, said the updated plan will look at how to create more deeply-subsidized homes.
“The market alone will not provide adequate affordable housing for all income levels, so there needs to be investment by all three orders of government in affordable housing,” she said.
Provincial and federal housing plans
Last month, the Alberta government announced plans to sell off, transfer or redevelop affordable housing stock which critics say will worsen an already dangerous shortage.
Dylan Topal, spokesman for Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon, said while direction could change under the new premier, Alberta’s current 10-year affordable housing strategy aims to expand help to 25,000 more households, and that they consider “affordable housing” to be housing expenses not exceeding 30 per cent of household income.
In an interview Thursday, he said the new management plan won’t mean people lose their affordable housing spot.
“I want to be explicitly clear … we aren’t going to be selling apartments where some people are living in some of them, we’re not going to be kicking people out … I will strongly imagine that is not going to change,” he said.
“The properties that we’re going to be selling, these are under-used, or not utilized at all for affordable housing … we can sell them to a developer, and when we get the proceeds from the sale we can reinvest that back into affordable housing.”
Asked whether the reason they aren’t being used is because the province hasn’t maintained them, Topal said this isn’t the case.
For example, one building up for sale soon in Edmonton isn’t housing people, is “an eyesore,” and it will be sold to fund more affordable homes, he said.
“Some of these buildings, to renovate them, it would cost us more to do that than to just build new. We’re being good stewards of government-owned assets and of taxpayers’ dollars and doing these things effectively.”
He said the province will work with municipalities as their housing needs change using a new questionnaire.
In 2019, the federal and Alberta governments signed an agreement to spend $339 million each as part of the National Housing Strategy.
Arevig Afarian, press secretary to federal Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen, said the federal government could not answer a question about how much more affordable housing, and of what type, will be built in Edmonton because of confidential agreements.
So far, she said nearly $90 million has been contributed toward projects by the federal government in Alberta to help more than 31,000 households either through building new housing, repairing of existing housing, or through rental supports.
“We look forward to continue working with Alberta to keep investing in affordable and safe housing options for Albertans and Edmontonians through this bilateral agreement,” she stated.
“We are committed to close the housing gap and ensuring all Canadians access safe and affordable housing that is right for their needs.”
Topal said the province has fulfilled its side of the funding agreements with the federal government.
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
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