Preamble:   The Provincial Unemployment rate sat at 4.9% as of January 2009. This is higher than it was a year ago (3.8%) but there are still 5,000 more jobs in the province than there were a year ago. That is because the total workforce increased by 8,800 people.

Provincial employers are still struggling to find employees to fill vacancies.

Initiatives are being undertaken by the provincial government, municipalities and private industry to emigrate workers from foreign countries to fill these positions.

A challenge that faces these groups is a lack of affordable housing for these immigrants once they come to Manitoba. Part of the Provincial Nominee Program requires that perspective immigrants have Sufficient Settlement Supports.

The lack of affordable housing in the smaller and rural areas makes this more of a challenge.

Resolution:   That the Government of Manitoba over the next 12 months in consultation with key stakeholders:

a) identify the extent of the need for entry level housing in Manitoba and

b) develop and implement a strategy to meet that need.  

 

Resolution Report:  

The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce produces Resolution reports as part of its commitment to be accountable to its members. The reports are updated as matters unfold and have three components:

MCC Advocacy: Specific activities the MCC has done to help make this Resolution a reality. 

Developments:  Events (e.g. government action, media coverage) that relate to Resolution. 

Current Status: The MCC’s current plans to help make this Resolution a reality. 

Advice, comments, and information sharing are welcome; simply enter a reply at the bottom of this post.

 

MCC Advocacy: 

April 16, May 6 and May 7, 2009: The 2009-2010 Resolutions were posted on the MCC website, listed as part of a comprehensive Report on AGM 2009 and then notice of this story was circulated through the MCC e-Omnibus which is sent to all MCC members, Media and Government.

May 19, 2009: Resolution books were sent to every MLA and every Member of Parliament that hails from Manitoba. The following had this Resolution specifically drawn to their attention with a detailed letter setting out the background to this issue, Government initiatives (where applicable), and an argument for the Resolution:

• The Minister of Family Services and Houses
• The Minister of Labour and Immigration
• The Deputy Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs

July 15, 2009: The MCC E-Update provided notice of new developments on this issue. The E-Update was circulated sent to all MCC members, Media and Government.

August 10, 2009:  The MCC met with the Portage la Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce in relation to this matter. The local chamber shared the MCC’s frustration that to date the government’s response to the Affordable Housing Resolution has related to initiatives that are Winnipeg-based rather than rural. The Portage la Prairie Chamber confirmed that housing remains a real challenge for many individuals.  

August 10, 2009: The MCC met with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) in relation to this matter. The AMM supported agreed that entry level housing is a challenge.

The MCC and AMM brainstormed ways to move this issue forward.

August 12, 2009: This Resolution was highlighted in an MCC E-Update which was sent to 2,500 individuals including MCC members, Media and Government. 

 

Developments:

April 29, 2009: The Winnipeg Free Press contained an Op-Ed piece entitled “Housing crisis tests Thompson: With zero vacancy rate, northern city forced to innovate”. While the piece does focus on affordable housing it also highlights the need for “entry level housing”, a key issue for this Resolution. Here is the piece in full:

While much has been written about the lack of affordable housing in Winnipeg, the situation in other Manitoba communities has also reached crisis proportions. Thompson, for example, has a zero per cent rental vacancy rate.

Thompson is Manitoba’s “service hub of the North.” With a population of 13,256, it also serves as a trade centre for an additional 65,000 Manitobans. Approximately 36 per cent of Thompson residents are aboriginal, the largest proportion in any Canadian municipality.

Thompson is also a city with extreme income disparity. Thirteen percent of individuals older than 15 reported income exceeding $80,000 in 2005, while 25 per cent earned less than $15,000. The disparity has grown considerably since 2001. The population increased by 3.7 per cent between 2001 and 2006. The number of individuals earning less than $15,000 decreased slightly (about five per cent). But more striking is the increasing number of high-income earners in this period — a 65 per cent increase in those earning $80,000 plus.

This has had significant implications for housing. In a community with an increasing number of high-income transient workers and zero rental vacancies, there is considerable incentive for landlords to do whatever necessary to increase rents. But doing so without the creation of new low-cost units has resulted in the displacement of low-income families.

For example, one privately owned rental-housing complex was renovated in 2008 after years of neglect. In accordance with the Residential Tenancy Act, the owner was given exemption from rent guidelines resulting in a doubling of rents from $509 to $1,000 for a three-bedroom unit and $568 to $1,200 for a four bedroom. While the freshly renovated units provided a welcome source of housing for higher income earners, not so lucky were the many families displaced because they could no longer afford the rents. And with no other housing options available, many of the 96 families, including some 219 school age children, had no choice but to leave Thompson.

More recently, the owner of a 275-unit rental property informed tenants that units will be converted into condominiums. The purchase price of a one bedroom will be approximately $160,000. Many of the families and singles residing in the building can’t afford the purchase price and are fearful of losing their homes. But other options are limited and new supply is not being built through the private market to replace affordable rental units lost.

People, meanwhile, continue to migrate to Thompson. The dire housing situation and lack of opportunity in small northern communities leads many to Thompson in search of employment, education and homes. But the lack of housing means that many are unable to stay, creating challenges for the local economy. For example, education enrolments have decreased and there is a shortage of professional, labour and service workers.

Like other municipalities, Thompson’s city government continues to press the provincial and federal governments to build more subsidized rental housing. The province is beginning to respond. Progress, however, is slow. Plans are in place for 40 new ‘affordable’ units, half of which will be subsidized with rents set according to income. But more units are needed.

Thompson has not had a budget line for housing, although it has contributed land for affordable housing and has acted as a developer of residential land at a net cost to the city.

But Thompson is taking a new approach. It recently changed its land sale policy; will no longer subsidize market housing development; and is determined to take a more proactive approach to affordable housing.

In 2008, within the guidelines of the Municipal Revenue Act, the City of Thompson passed a bylaw that would allow it to raise local taxes and dedicate revenues to affordable housing, infrastructure and public safety.

Revenue from a two-per-cent hotel tax and restaurant meals was to be allocated to a reserve fund for infrastructure. Revenue from a two-per-cent tax on alcohol was to be allocated to public safety, and a half of a per cent tax on land transfers was to be allocated to a fund for affordable housing.

The government declined to approve the tax proposals and instead allowed Thompson to introduce a hotel tax of five per cent, similar to the City of Winnipeg tax that is primarily used to fund Destination Winnipeg.

Although disappointed with the rejection of its innovative plan, Thompson implemented the five-per-cent tax, but with a twist. The city will allocate revenue to reserve funds that have broader social benefit. In response to priorities determined by the community, 60 per cent of the hotel tax revenue is allocated to an infrastructure reserve, 20 per cent to a community safety reserve, and 20 per cent to an affordable housing reserve. At an estimated $465,000 per year, approximately $93,000 will now be available for affordable housing.

The new reserve fund won’t solve Thompson’s housing crisis. More financial support from the federal and provincial governments is desperately needed. But Thompson’s willingness to take action and seek creative solutions to its housing crisis shows what city governments can do when they take leadership and put community first.

Shauna MacKinnon is the director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — Manitoba. Charlene Lafreniere, executive director of the Thompson Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. and a Thompson councillor, collaborated in writing this piece.

May 15, 2009: The Winnipeg Free Press contained an article by Carol Sanders entitled “Fix for immigrant-housing gap: Resource centre for newcomers’ biggest obstacle”. The article is reproduced below in its entirety:

With housing prices at an all-time high and vacancy rates at an all-time low, finding an affordable abode is one the biggest hurdles facing newcomers to Manitoba.

Now, a new charitable foundation has opened a resource centre to teach immigrants and refugees how to find and keep a place to live.

“We don’t need a free house or free money,” said refugee Mwumvaneza Azarias who spoke Thursday at New Journey Housing’s grand opening on the third floor of Portage Place. “What we need is training and information.”

Azarias fled war in Rwanda in 1994 and came to Winnipeg in 2007. He is volunteering at the resource centre, which is run by two full-time and two part-time staff and volunteers, with no government money.

Many agencies help newcomers get settled in short-term housing, learn English, get an education and find jobs when they first arrive, said Sally Nelson, executive director of New Journey Housing. The one-stop resource centre is the first to offer help with housing to all immigrants and refugees — no matter how long they’ve been living in Winnipeg — whether they want to buy or rent.

The centre is filling a dire need in the gap between a booming immigration policy and shrinking supply of affordable housing, said Prof. Tom Carter of the University of Winnipeg.

“The number of immigrants and refugees is increasing every year and that’s likely to continue with our aging population and labour shortage,” said Carter, who has been evaluating refugee needs in Winnipeg over the last four years.

“The key challenge is finding affordable housing,” said Carter, who noted the vacancy rate in Winnipeg is one per cent and the government is not investing in new, affordable housing.

“What we’ve discovered… is that people don’t have the information they need to find housing,” he said.

With such a scarcity of good places in safe areas, it’s even more vital for newcomers to be in the know, said Nelson.

“They don’t understand the system,” she said.

New Journey home-ownership counsellor Karen Giesbrecht recalled one woman with five children renting a home in the inner city. The landlord ignored her calls to come and fix a leaking toilet that had become unsanitary.

When the landlord showed up to collect the rent, she refused to pay and was given 24 hours to get out. She ended up paying the rent until her son got a job and they could afford the down payment on a modest home of their own.

Her son co-signed for the mortgage then bought a car and she couldn’t afford the mortgage payments or much-needed home repairs.

“I think sometimes people are desperate,” said Giesbrecht. “They don’t realize the responsibilities and pressures.”

The charity that funds the resource centre was started by a Winnipeg couple aware of the housing challenges newcomers face in a new culture, who wanted to help.

“We thought maybe we can do something like buy an apartment building,” said Paul Ash, chairman of the board of the New Journey Housing Foundation. Instead, he and his wife Susan met Nelson who worked for IRCOM House, which provides three-year transitional housing for refugees. Nelson was looking for a way to help people move into long-term housing. In less than two years, they formed a charitable foundation to open the resource centre.

“It fit with what was in our hearts,” said Ash.

The head of Winnipeg’s largest refugee settlement agency said he’s impressed.

“The money is coming from the private sector,” said Marty Dolin, executive director of Welcome Place, which helped settle 550 government-sponsored refugees last year. “They’re stepping up.” Groups that sponsor refugees and immigrant professionals will also benefit from the resources at the centre, he said.

For information see http://www.newjourneyhousing.com/ or call 942-2238

July 13, 2009: The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce received a letter from the Minister of Labour and Immigration on this matter. That letter responded to the Resolution as follows:

Our Government and the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation (MHRC) are committed to working with community stakeholders to provide affordable housing in those communities experiencing population growth from immigration. MHRC is engaged in a strategy to increase the number of affordable housing units in or around Winnipeg’s downtown. The strategy focuses on transitional and/or short-term housing; permanent, long term affordable housing; and home ownership for new Canadians. In addition to third-party housing, MHRC works with a sponsor-managed agency, Immigrant and Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM), to give new immigrants and refugees access to affordable housing. To this end, transitional housing projects, under the Affordable Housing Initiative for refugees and new immigrants, were developed at 404 Qu’Appelle Avenue (conversion and infill to 28 affordable rental units), and 468 Ross Avenue (conversion of warehouse to 24 units of affordable housing).

Manitoba and the federal government are continuing to work on initiatives to help newcomers access suitable, affordable housing.

September 25, 2009: A government news release entitled ”Governments Of Canada, Manitoba And Winnipeg Commit To 23 New Affordable Housing Units And Supportive Services For New Canadians At Welcome Place” is issued.

The release states in part: 

All three levels of government are supporting the construction of a new $4.4 million, 25,000 square foot apartment complex and settlement service facility for newly arrived refugees called Welcome Place. The facility, run by Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council will have a flexible design that will allow for different sized suites depending on the number of refugees who need housing. Construction is currently underway, and will be ready to take new residents in spring 2010.

The full release is available here.

October 14, 2009: Governments Of Canada, Manitoba And Winnipeg Commit To 25 More Affordable Housing Units For New Canadians At Centre Village Housing.

The news release includes the following:

All three levels of government are supporting the construction of a new $3.7-million, 25-unit apartment complex located in downtown Winnipeg.  Construction of Centre Village Housing is underway and the building will be ready for tenants in the summer of 2010. 

The complete news release is available here.

October 16, 2009: The Manitoba and Federal Government issue a news release entitled  ”Governments Of Canada And Manitoba Celebrate New Affordable Housing In Grunthal.”

The project, led by Menno Home for the Aged, will have 42 housing units, including 12 supportive housing units and 30 one-bedroom assisted living units for low-to-moderate income seniors. Total cost of the project is estimated to be $4.5 million.

The entire release is available here. 

February 26, 2010: Murray McNeill of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote an article entitled “Nowhere to call home?: New immigrants face shortage of affordable rental housing.”The article included the following: 

New immigrants will be facing a serious housing shortage in the next few years unless the Manitoba government takes strong action to spur on more new development, a University of Winnipeg professor said Thursday. 

Prof. Tom Carter, who has been evaluating immigrant and refugee needs in Manitoba, said with apartment vacancy rates hovering at one per cent or less in some communities, many of the approximately 11,000 international newcomers to the province each year are already finding it hard to find affordable housing — especially refugees, who often have low incomes. 

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

April 1, 2010: An editorial by the Winnipeg Free Press entitled “When the boom retires” talked about a report by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics and touched on this issue. The editorial included the following:

Mr. Falk [of the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics] seemed concerned that a lack of housing could deter newcomers from putting down roots in Manitoba. The report speculates that fewer native Manitobans will be leaving for greener pastures in Canada in years to come — a brave prediction. That retention, combined with increased immigration, will stress the vacancy rates and the housing re-sale market.

To read the full editorial, click here. 

 

Final Report:

For the longest time this issue could not get any traction among the “marquee issue” of affordable housing for low income Manitobans. Judging from the recent developments (see above), that may well be changing. While work remains to be done, this Resolution is a qualified success.