The homeless in Victoria are a frequent topic of conversation these days, but they are just a fraction of the people in our region who are being crushed by the cost of housing.
Less visible are those who struggle to find a home that doesn鈥檛 strain their limited incomes. As a new analysis shows, almost 49,000 households in the area are spending 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter.
Solving that problem has been a priority for the Capital Regional District, because sipping another latt茅 and ignoring the situation is not an option.
The study by the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria looked at what is called the 鈥渉ousing gap,鈥� the difference between what people can afford for rent and what is being charged.
The gap is dramatic. Graphs comparing household incomes and housing costs show that Greater Victoria has lots of expensive housing and far less affordable housing than is needed for the number of lower-income families.
According to the report, renter households in the region had a median income of $38,583 in 2010. At that income, an affordable rent is defined as $965 a month. But the average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $130 more than that. For a two-bedroom condo, the difference is $324.
The problem has been growing, as the average vacancy rate in 2014 was at 1.5 per cent. Between 2005 and 2014, average rents rose by 30.4 per cent, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, much higher than the 17.3 per cent inflation rate.
For some renters, the 10,341 units of social housing are the place to find affordable homes. But the demand exceeds the supply, and many social-housing units are in danger of losing the funding they get from the federal or provincial governments.
In the capital region, 1,239 households were on the B.C. Housing wait-list for social housing, more than half of them in Victoria. About 40 per cent of those on the wait-list are seniors.
About 25 per cent of the subsidy agreements for social housing will expire in the next five years. Half will run out over the next 10 years.
The CRD has called on the federal government to renew the agreements, and Ottawa should heed that request. Letting the subsidies lapse would just exacerbate the affordability problem. As the numbers show, however, subsidies are just part of the answer.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says it鈥檚 more than a social problem; it鈥檚 an economic problem, which is why she has released a draft economic action plan.
鈥淧art of the answer is creating an economy that has room for everyone, and that鈥檚 what the economic action plan is about,鈥� she said.
The plan aims to generate jobs and increase incomes through economic development, focusing on six 鈥渆ngines,鈥� including technology, advanced education and the marine sector.
While everything should be up for discussion, changing the economic reality is a tall order for a municipal government. And even if the plan is successful, it will take time to affect the incomes of those who are most in need of help.
The gap analysis is another tool in the quest for solutions, and it is a measure of how big a problem we face.
