The Canadian Press
A new analysis of the countryโs stock of affordable housing suggests the Liberalsโย decade-long strategy to provide more of itย is starting in a deeper hole than previously thought, and may be further behind once the COVID-19ย pandemic passes.
But the pandemic could also mean an opportunity for governments to pick up rental units cheaply.
Carleton University researcher Steve Pomeroy,ย whom housingย groups and governments both rely on for advice, found a decline of 322,600ย affordable rental units in the private market between 2011 and 2016.
Over the same period, federal and provincial investments in affordable housing created about 20,000 affordable units, meaning that for every new unit governments created, 15 were lost.
What that means is theย Liberalsโ national housing strategy and its plans to create 150,000 affordable units over a 10-year stretch would only be replacing about half of what had just beenย lost.
The new concern is that the situation will repeat following the current economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, as tenantsโ problems paying rents put aย squeeze onย small landlordsย and their assets are scooped up byย larger real-estate funds with little interest in keeping them affordable.
Itโs why the federal government is now considering purchasing those assets as part of the next phase of theย governmentโs response to the pandemic.
โMy position on this has been, if you canโt beat โem, join โem,โ said Pomeroy, a senior research fellow at Carletonโs Centre for Urban Research and Education.
โIf the (real-estate investment trusts) are coming along and buying up these properties, why donโt we let non-profits do the same thing, or enable non-profits to do the same thing?โ
In recent days,ย Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen has suggested in meetings with housing advocates that heโs open to putting federal dollars behind the idea.
โIf this is an opportunity to really put a serious dent in homelessness, then thatโs an opportunity we should be taking,โ said Jeff Morrison, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.
There is no specific program under the national housing strategy to enable acquisitions, said Pomeroy, who also works as a consultant. Public support like that would be needed to help smaller, non-profit housing providers gainย the necessary capital to purchase properties.
So far, few affordable housing renters are behind on payments. Morrison saidย thatย about 10 per centย of units are in arrears or non-payment.
Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness,ย told MPs on a Commons committee this week that thereโs very real worry that the economic crisis created by COVID-19 could accelerate the losses in affordable units Pomeroy noted, โmaking Canadaโs housing crisis even worse.โ
โIf weโre in a hole, we have to stop digging,โ Richter said.
Pomeroy estimated a realistic target for a federal program would be to buy about 7,500 units annually, which would cost over $1 billion in a mix of equity, loans and grants to purchase and refurbish units.
Those units could be a mix of apartments that could quickly be available as affordable or social housing units, plus other assets like strip malls or commercial office space thatย could be repurposed into housing, said Leilani Farha, global director of The Shift, a housing-rights group.
โIf itโsย the case that all of these differentย possible property types become distressed, itโs then an amazing opportunity for governments at all โ local, provincial, andย national โ levels to consider moving in and buying those assets to increase public access.โ
Additionally, there are concerns that motels and hotels will shut down, pushing out homeless people housed in them to avoid overcrowding in shelters and slow the spread of COVID-19.