Winnipeg's Affordable Housing Crisis: a National Problem

Until this year, I rarely paid attention to the issues surrounding Winnipeg’s inner city. Downtown was a place I rarely visited, and never considered exploring on my own. This year I have began to look past physical downtown environments and have started to explore and understand issues surrounding the inner city. I believe that one of the toughest challenges facing inner city Winnipeg and most Canadian cities is that of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing options. This issue deserves more attention as I begin to explore issues that shape Winnipeg’s inner city.

Winnipeg’s 2001 census states that in the inner city neighbourhoods 36.3% of dwellings are owned and 63.7% are rented, compared to the Winnipeg average of 64.6% owned and 36.4% rented. Because the average household income in the inner city areas in 2000 was $42,477 compared to the Winnipeg average of $53,179, it’s clear that the inner city neighbourhoods require more rental and low-income housing than do other areas of Winnipeg. Unfortunately, the housing that does exist in Winnipeg is often more than the homeless and people on social assistance can afford, and the living conditions are sub-standard. What is the purpose of affordable housing if it is not affordable at all? This issue is what is leading more people to become homeless across the country.

A report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities lists seven indicators used to measure the risk of homelessness in Canadian municipalities and states that “fewer than nine per cent of all housing units completed in Canada’s largest cities between 2001 and 2006 were rental units”. The FCM suggests in their report “Recommendations for a National Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness” that an estimated 40,000 people in Canada sleep in emergency shelters across the country every night, and about 20,000 people are chronically homeless nation-wide. If this isn’t an indication of a national problem, what is? There are a few ways that Winnipeg is dealing with the affordable housing issue within the city.

The Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative is an agreement between the governments of Canada, Manitoba and Winnipeg to address homelessness and the declining quantity and quality of housing in Winnipeg’s inner city. Their website lists the many projects that the WHHI has assisted with in Winnipeg, including renovations of houses and apartment buildings in low-income areas that are then offered for sale, as rent-to-own, or as non-profit rentals. They also offer grants to community-based organizations such as the Spence Neighbourhood Association in order to build new infill housing, develop housing plans, and to rehabilitate existing houses in the neighbourhood where living conditions are currently quite low.

The quality of existing affordable housing in many inner-city Winnipeg neighbourhoods is often sub-standard, and landlords are often not willing to put in the money necessary to bring them up to a reasonable standard because that would cause them to need to raise rental rates, and the rates are already higher than many people can afford. The Manitoba Housing Authority provides affordable and subsidized accommodation for families and individuals and outlines rules for affordable housing in Manitoba. Within the city of Winnipeg, the maximum amount in rent that a landlord can charge per month for a one-bedroom apartment is $575, and the housing income limit (HIL) for a one-bedroom dwelling within the city is $23,000 total income per year. The Manitoba Housing Authority bases its rental rates from 27% of the family’s household income, and charges on a rent-geared-to-income ratio. However, this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, many families must pay 50-100% of their income on rent alone, forcing them to live without other necessities. Many factors are contributing to increased numbers of homeless people in Canadian cities, including raised rent, the lack of construction of rental units, social housing wait lists and low vacancy rates. Low income is a huge problem especially in the Aboriginal and immigrant populations where unemployment is a large factor, and single-parent families also have a higher rate of poverty and are increasing in number across the country, including Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is not alone as far as the issues of homelessness and affordable housing are concerned, but the city is not making as much progress as is needed to ease the problem. Private investors will not be very willing to step in and solve the problem without increased support from all levels of government, who need to take a direct stand to address the problem before it worsens.

References:

Winnipeg’s 2001 census:http://winnipeg.ca/census/2001/

Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Reports:
http://www.fcm.ca/english/media/press/jan162008.html
http://www.fcm.ca/english/media/backgrounders/nov172004bbac.html

FCM: Recommendations for a National Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness:
http://www.fcm.ca/english/media/backgrounders/hstrat.pdf

Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative:
http://www.whhi.ca/home.htm
Projects: http://www.whhi.ca/projectgallery.php#coverup

Spence Neighbourhood Association:
http://www.spenceneighbourhood.org/

Manitoba Housing Authority:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/fs/housing/mha.html