New report identifies those hurt by housing crunch

By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily

People with mental health issues, addictions and other disabilities face a “huge barrier” when it comes to finding affordable housing in the city, a new report commissioned by the City has found.

The Housing Needs and Housing Strategy reports said for the nearly 100 Nelson residents who have severe challenges — needing ongoing outreach and regular support — there are only 16 places for them to live in non-market housing.

And it doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Despite six years of planning and approval process, a 31-unit building on Anderson Street for psycho-geriatric people over the age of 55 still awaits capital funding.

For years council and the various social service groups in the city have known there is a problem with affordable and adequate housing in the city for certain groups, said Coun. Donna Macdonald, who presented the report with Rona Park, the executive director of the Nelson CARES Society.

However, no one could say for certain who was affected and how until now with the release of the two reports, said Coun. Macdonald.

“We tried to answer some of those questions,” she said. “We feel that (these reports) provide us with a very comprehensive snapshot of what is happening in Nelson and the area as well.”

Also affected are low to moderate income households — single people, students, single parent families — who require safe, suitable and “affordable rental housing in the private market.” This category also includes people relocating to Nelson for stable, well-paying jobs, but were not ready to enter the home ownership market.

With a vacancy rate hovering around one per cent, workers in the private services sector are having difficulty finding rental housing that is affordable with their wage, the report found.

For a person earning an average of $13.29 per hour as a retail clerk, they would need to find a place for $558 per month in order to keep within the 30 per cent of income range to qualify their housing as affordable. There are few, if any, rentals in this range in the city, said Park.

Also affected are moderate-income families who aspire to home ownership, without relocating from Nelson and area, and families who are considering moving to Nelson if they could find suitable, affordable housing.

The median income for couple families in Nelson was estimated at $73,100. If they spent 30 per cent of their income on housing, they could afford an average priced home in Nelson ($340,000).

However, for moderate-income families bringing in $50,000 to $70,000, they would likely be considering less expensive housing in rural areas within commuting distance.

Seniors on low fixed incomes were also affected by the high cost of housing, the report found.

Some elements of the report shocked but encouraged Coun. Kim Charlesworth. She had no idea the City had the ability to adopt a standard of maintenance bylaw for rental housing.

“I think that is an amazingly important idea … because some single mothers end up living in severely substandard housing and are afraid to say anything for fear their kids would be taken from them,” she said.

The report, one of two produced from the 2010 Affordable Housing study, focused on the need and demand for affordable housing in the city.

It contained a description of a range of factors that influenced the housing market, an identification of groups who had the least accessibility to affordable housing, and contained commentary on gaps and issues in the market.

The research was undertaken by CitySpaces between mid-February and June, 2010, involving a review of previously completed research, in-person and telephone interviews, discussion groups and an online survey with 345 respondents.

The report on housing and the strategy report were lightly debated by council during their committee of the whole meeting Sept. 20, but any action coming out of the strategy will be decided at the next city council meeting.