By Courtney Almeida

Affordable Housing

The City releases Community Housing Needs Assessment report

Apr 10, 2019 | 11:02 AM

An affordable housing plan is being developed by the City of Grande Prairie based on a Community Housing Needs Assessment report presented to the Community Living Committee. A key finding in the report shows that there is a lack of affordable housing in the Swan City for low income families.

The intent of the report is for the City to be able to provide more affordable housing and reduce existing housing costs. It provides an overview of Grande Prairie’s current housing market and highlights factors impacting the market. It also identifies populations most in need of support.

“Priority would be family housing. Specifically, for low income families because our supply of housing in the affordable housing market is all bachelor suites and one-bedrooms. It’s geared for single individuals and there’s a huge deficit in housing for families,” says Reed Des Roches, Affordable Housing Coordinator for the City of Grande Prairie.

Data collected suggests that Grande Prairie has a volatile economy due to its reliance on the oil and gas industry, but findings show that housing in the rental and ownership markets are affordable for most residents because of the high quantity of high incomes within the area.

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Des Roches notes the fall of the economy in 2016, saying “Definitely a bust in 2016 and so, core housing need jumped up significantly. There’s a lot more households in Grande Prairie that are in need of supports than we have seen historically and things economically, are slightly improving but the housing market lags a bit behind that and so it’ll be a while really before we see a recovery.”

The Assessment found that there are a substantial number of low-income households struggling to compete for housing in the current market and identifies several populations as particularly in need of housing supports, based on household characteristics.

Main characteristics of in need households are as follows:

• 12% couples with children;
• 25% lone-parent households;
• 52% one-person households;
• 25% seniors;
• 17% Aboriginal households;
• 47% households where at least one person has an activity limitation; and
• 11% immigrant households.

Findings advise that in the new Affordable Housing Strategy, 25% of new affordable units should go to seniors and 37% should be allocated for families with children.

The numbers also highlight a dire need for the City to provide additional supports to help groups with unique barriers develop housing solutions that meet their needs.

It was also found that the lack of affordable housing options for low income families is a direct result of families competing in a high-income household market, as well as a market that is highly saturated with “crew houses”.

High rent costs make it difficult for low income families to afford other daily costs and make it almost impossible for them to be able to save for their own down payment for future home ownership.

Another finding in the report shows that of the current low income houses available on the market, most are not suitable for families.

“Stable housing is really important for child development income in terms of health, education and eventually employment so it’s really important to provide stable housing for families,” said Des Roches.

The Community Housing Needs Assessment recommends that the City should take measures to improve access to market housing for families and increase the supply of affordable family housing.

By the year 2030, the study projects that there will be approximately 3,040 households in Core Housing Need. “There’s a huge gap that needs to be caught up, to provide a minimum level of service for families,” says Des Roches.

In 2016, data available projected that number to be around 2,475. Currently, the City has 723 available units. To meet the need of 45% of permanent affordable housing units, the City would have to add at least 1,368 units by 2030, which would see the addition of 645 units.

“Because of the pace of growth in Grande Prairie, we could be going from hundreds of people and households in need to thousands. If we’re not addressing the issue early on, because of our rate of growth, it’ll be exponential.”

Based on the needs addressed in the report, the types of households that should be addressed would see the addition of approximately 290 units with two or more bedrooms for families, 278 units for people with mixed needs, and 75 bachelor or one-bedroom apartments.

The report was developed through community input gathered through workshops with representatives from community organizations that provide support services and from housing industry representatives. In addition, a public survey was also conducted from February 19 to March 8, 2019.

Council will set the recommendations based on the data presented to the Community Living Committee at a future City Council meeting.

Public workshops are being held to consult the community in the Ernie Radbourne Pavilion in Muskoseepi Park on April 17 and April 24 at various times.

Anyone interested in attending can register online here or call 780-513-5236.

A draft strategy is expected to be completed in June, with a Public Hearing to follow in August or September.