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For Immediate Release

The Edmonton Social Planning Council (ESPC) today released a report called “Not just a roof over our heads” detailing the findings of a recent survey of Edmonton renters. A diverse group of 727 renters responded to the survey that took place during April and May of this year. 

“Despite some improvement in the vacancy rate, five times more renters reported that their housing situation is getting worse rather than better,” noted Anette Kinley, the ESPC’s Research and Communications Assistant, and the report’s author.  “Over four out of five renters reported that their rent went up in the last year.  The average increase was $195 per month,” she added.

Renters facing the steepest increases were those who could least afford it, namely those living in modestly priced rental accommodation.  “The survey found renters paying less than $500 month initially faced an average rent increase of 61% in the past year. In contrast, those who started paying $1,000 or more faced an average 18% increase, less than one-third as high,” Kinley noted.

The ESPC survey findings are consistent with the most recent report of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation which shows that most of the improvement in the vacancy rate is in higher end rental accommodation, such as rental condos, and not in the lower end of the rental market.

“We are appreciative that many survey respondents took the time to offer their recommendations on how to address the ongoing crisis in affordable rental housing,” said John Kolkman, the ESPC’s Research and Policy Analysis Coordinator. “Based on this input, the ESPC has modified and updated its own positions on the rental housing crisis,” he added.

“By far the most frequently cited recommendations from renters were the urgent need for the provincial government to stabilize rents and get more affordable rental housing built,” said Kolkman. 

“The ESPC therefore continues to see the need for rent guidelines to protect vulnerable renters with low or modest incomes. These temporary controls should only be lifted once more rental housing gets built and provincial rent subsidy programs improved,” concluded Kolkman

To view the entire document CLICK Here.

website:  www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

The Edmonton Social Planning Council is launching a survey of Edmonton renters to determine whether their situation has improved or worsened in the past year.

Last May, two public forums co-sponsored by the ESPC and City Councillors Michael Phair and Dave Thiele attracted over 200 Edmonton renters.  “At the time, the issue of sky-high rents and low vacancy rates was top of mind for many Edmontonians.  Since then, the issue has faded from the headlines,” noted Anette Kinley, the Council’s Research and Communications Assistant.

“Housing prices are starting to decline from last summer’s highs, making buying a home somewhat more affordable,” Kinley observed, “but to what extent – if any – is this trend making life easier for renters?”

The Council decided to conduct this survey of Edmonton renters to find out.  The survey – which takes only a few minutes to complete – asks a series of questions including: whether the participants’ feel their rental situation has gotten better or worse, whether their rent has gone up and by how much, and whether the cost of their rent is putting a strain on their ability to meet their other basic needs.

Renters can fill out or download a copy of the survey online from the ESPC website: edmontonsocialplanning.ca. The ESPC will be delivering copies door-to-door in a selection of rental complexes around the City. 

Copies of the survey will also be available through community agencies and the Edmonton Public Library. The survey will run until May 31st, and all renters who complete it will be entered to win a $50 gift card from the grocery store of their choice.

A report on the survey results will be released in June, said Kinley.  “No personal information will be included in the report, only aggregated results,” she emphasized.

“The survey results will help determine what further actions the Edmonton Social Planning Council should undertake in support of Edmonton renters,” Kinley concluded.

Copies of the ESPC renters’ survey report and the ESPC position paper can be downloaded CLICK or online at www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

by: John Kolkman, freelance 

The provincial and city governments are talking a good game when it comes to the urgent need to build more affordable housing. So why is so little progress being made?
Edmonton is in a housing affordability crisis. Vacancy rates are very low. Homelessness is growing. Earlier this month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported an 18.8-per-cent increase in average rents, the highest yearly increase of all major Canadian cities. Yet the pace of efforts to address this crisis is glacial.

The provincial government announced its response to the Affordable Housing Task Force last April. A 10-year plan to end homelessness was announced in October. While additional monies are committed, the pace of new construction has not increased.

The latest setback in getting things moving happened at a Nov. 20 public hearing held by Edmonton city council’s transportation and public works (TPW) committee. The committee heard representations on an inclusionary affordable housing policy proposed by the city administration. Rather than making a decision that would have gone to city council in mid-January, the TPW committee opted to engage in more closed-door consultations with the development industry. The proposed policy won’t even be back on the TPW committee agenda until early March.

The development industry’s opposition to the proposed policy is disappointing. There have already been extensive consultations with developers, home builders and other stakeholders. Further delays are definitely not helpful.

Adopting an inclusionary policy is the single most important decision council must make if Edmonton is to reduce reliance on emergency shelters and avoid future “tent cities.” The first goal of such a policy is to ensure that long-term affordable housing — integrated with and indistinguishable from market housing — is built throughout the city.

The second goal is to provide a source of funds for the construction of additional affordable housing units. Housing developers could build a minimum of five-per-cent affordable housing units into all major residential developments. Alternatively, builders could either contribute to a reserve fund dedicated solely to constructing additional affordable housing or allow the city to purchase five per cent of the units at 80 per cent of their market value.

The proposed policy defines housing as affordable if households earning less than 80 per cent of the median income pay no more than 30 per cent of their gross income on rent. Not nearly enough housing meeting this definition was getting built even when market conditions were more favourable, let alone in today’s overheated economy. Therefore, government leadership is essential.

Unlike Ontario and B.C. where provincial legislation specifically allows for inclusionary zoning, Alberta is in a legal grey zone. The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association adopted a resolution in 2006 urging the province to amend the Municipal Government Act to include inclusionary zoning in their land use bylaws. The province’s refusal leaves municipalities open to legal challenges.

Prior to 1979, the Edmonton required all new neighbourhoods to be built with at least five-per-cent social housing which — combined with federal and provincial housing dollars available at that time — ensured that low-cost housing was built in all older suburbs. Unfortunately, the policy was challenged in the courts and struck down.

The demise of this policy resulted in many newer suburbs being built without any affordable housing units. When combined with the almost total withdrawal of the federal and provincial affordable housing dollars in the early 1990s, this has directly led to the housing crisis we find ourselves in today.

Edmonton’s proposed policy is a modest one. The five-per-cent affordable housing requirement in major residential developments is low compared to the 20-per-cent requirement in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.

Finding suitable locations for new affordable housing will be considerably more difficult unless a mechanism is found to provide for it. Much of the affordable housing built in the past decade has been located in only a handful of neighbourhoods, mostly north and east of the downtown core.

Opposition to accepting more affordable housing is growing in these neighbourhoods.

Unfortunately, advocates for affordable housing have not always done their cause any favours. Let’s stop using terms like “gentrification” to label residents of lower-income neighbourhoods that oppose affordable housing projects. This only gets people riled up. Both the city and affordable-housing providers need to do a better job communicating with neighbourhood residents before decisions on housing projects are made.

A failure to provide safe, affordable long-term housing means only one thing — more Band-Aid solutions such as shelters. Ensuring that all Edmontonians have safe, affordable, long-term housing is essential.

While Edmonton’s economy has generated lots of jobs in recent years, this has not translated into real income gains for most families and households, according to a new report released today by the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

“The report set out to answer why – with plentiful jobs and record employment levels – so many working Edmontonians are having such a difficult time making ends meet,” said John Kolkman, the Council’s Research and Policy Analysis Coordinator and the report’s author. “We found that while Edmonton’s current boom is generating a large number of jobs, it’s not doing nearly as well at generating higher paying jobs with benefits,” he added.

The 51-page report, entitled ‘Standing Still in a Booming Economy,’ uses Statistics Canada data to track household incomes and earnings, and then compares them to economic growth rates over time periods of twenty years or longer. The report contains numerous tables and charts showing that employment earnings and household incomes are lagging behind growth in the Edmonton economy.

“GDP per person has been growing at a rate almost two times faster than median employment earnings over the past twenty years,” says Kolkman. “A larger share of the economic pie is being added to corporate bottom lines rather than going to personal incomes. Moreover, much of the increase in personal incomes is going to the top ten per cent of households,” he added.

Six focus groups were held to listen directly to the concerns of those living in low income working households. The 75 participants talked about being caught in a squeeze between low paying and insecure jobs on the one hand, and rising costs for food, shelter and other essentials on the other.

The report’s fifteen recommendations include: raising the minimum wage to a benchmark such as the low income cut-off; addressing labour shortages by improving wages and benefits for government contracted services; improving access to quality child care; and phasing out Alberta Health Care Premiums.

“These practical solutions will go a long way to ensuring that more Edmontonians share in the current prosperity,” Kolkman concluded.

To view the entire document CLICK Here.

website:  www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair and the Edmonton Social Planning Council today released a report on two renter listening forums held at the Stanley Milner Library on May 23 and 24.  The report summarizes the stories and ideas of those attending the forum and makes thirteen recommendations for government action based on the input received.

Over two hundred Edmontonians attended the two evening forums. They were invited to tell their stories to a listening panel made up of Susan Morrissey, Executive Director of the Edmonton Social Planning Council, Don Mayne of the Alberta Quality of Life Commission, and City Councillors Michael Phair and Dave Thiele.

“The renters who responded to our invitation had genuine concerns about their ability to continue putting a roof over their heads,” said Susan Morrissey, whose organization co-sponsored the forums along with Councillor Michael Phair.

“The stories of hardship we heard were truly heart rending but also inspiring,” said Councillor Michael Phair.  “We heard not only people’s stories but also their ideas of what can be done to fix what can only be called a rental housing crisis.”

“Restricting rent increases to once a year, without limiting the amount of the increase, is partly to blame for the massive rent hikes many tenants told us they are facing,” Morrissey pointed out.

“We heard story after story from tenants facing rent increases of hundreds of dollars per month while little or nothing is being done to improve their properties,” noted Councillor Phair.  “That’s why we are urging the provincial government to reconsider its decision to reject the Affordable Housing Task Force recommendation to introduce a two-year rent stability guideline.”

Other recommendations being forwarded to government include: attaching rent subsidies to the individuals or families needing them, providing tenants with a right of first refusal when units are converted to condos, and helping cover down payments so that home ownership becomes more affordable for those with modest incomes.

website:  www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

NEWS RELEASE

The Edmonton Social Planning Council today released the 2007 edition of its signature publication Tracking the Trends. The 97-page publication is a detailed examination of demographic, education and employment, living costs and housing, income and wealth, poverty and social trends that together comprise the social health of Edmontonians.

“By tracking these trends, we found that – despite a booming economy with record low unemployment and labour shortages – Edmonton’s social health index is mixed with some indicators up, others down, and a modest increase of 10.95 per cent since 1993,” says John Kolkman, Research and Policy Analysis Coordinator for the Council.

“Positive trends include strong economic and employment growth. Educational attainment is gradually rising. So is life expectancy.  Property and violent crime is trending down,” noted Kolkman.  “However, there is growing inequality in incomes and wealth.  There are more low-birth weight babies, increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, and higher rates of family violence.  These negative trends show we have a long way to go to improve social health in our community,” noted Kolkman.

Tracking the Trends also examines government income supports, finding these supports succeed in lifting only about 30 per cent of low-income families out of poverty.  Overall support levels have declined over time.

“Against a backdrop of rapidly rising costs for food, shelter and other essentials, the real value of monthly social assistance benefits in the past 25 years has dropped by over 50 per cent for families with children, and an even steeper 60 per cent for single adults,” noted Kolkman.

Most of this drop has taken place after 1993 when social assistance benefits were cut. The small increases since then have not prevented recipients from falling further behind.

“The April 19th provincial budget represents an opportunity to provide a measure of fairness to some of Alberta’s most vulnerable citizens.  The Council urges the government to significantly increase social assistance (Alberta Works) monthly benefit levels,” concluded Kolkman.

To view full document CLICK Here.

website:  www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca