Colleen Frank was 72 years old when she was evicted from the two-bedroom condo she had rented in Chilliwack, B.C., for more than two decades.
After years of lobbying by housing advocates, Canada is now following the lead of other countries that have used this strategy to balance their housing supplies. According to U.S. research, preserving affordable housing in expensive urban markets can be between 50 and 70 per cent cheaper than the cost of new construction, and non-profit housing operators keep rents lower for the long term. But private real estate sales often move too quickly, and require too much financing, for non-profits to jump in with competitive bids.
Meanwhile, the country’s supply of existing housing available at deeply affordable rents – that is, the $750 a month considered sustainable for families earning $30,000 annually – is vanishing quickly. According to an analysis of census data by housing consultant Steve Pomeroy, a senior research fellow for the Centre for Urban Research and Education at Carleton University, the country has been losing these units at a rate of 11 for every one that was built between 2011 and 2021.
A 2019 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study of 795 neighbourhoods across Canada found that only 9 per cent had average one-bedroom apartment rents that were affordable to minimum-wage workers, meaning the costs were no more than 30 per cent of their incomes. The analysis was conducted before the pandemic spiked rents.
In Canada, some cities and provinces have already created their own acquisition strategies. Montreal, for example, has given the right of first refusal to affordable housing providers when apartment buildings go up for sale, though the providers must match the prices of private real estate deals. Toronto has a $21.5-million acquisition program to help non-profits, co-operatives and community land trusts buy rental buildings, on the condition they guarantee affordability for 99 years.
“Collectively, we need to come to an understanding that we had almost zero housing investments in this country for 25 years,” Ms. Atkey said. “And that bill is now due.”
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