Rents going up, housing quality going down

Andrew Hanon, Edmonton SUN
Septembe 25, 2008

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Even as rents in the city skyrocketed as much as 61% in the last year, buildings became more rundown, neglected and dangerous, according to the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

Yesterday, the council released the findings of its survey of city tenants, and the report showed that renters at the low end of the scale faced the most exorbitant hikes.

Meanwhile, the survey's report stated, "Inadequate housing quality and safety are major concerns, to the point that some renters' health and safety are at risk."

"There was a big outcry about that," said report author Anette Kinley, the council's research and communications assistant.

"The renters are definitely feeling that the increases they're paying aren't going back into their buildings."

While rents in every sector of the market went up dramatically, Kinley was surprised to discover that the steepest increases were aimed at the tenants who could least afford it.

People who paid less than $500 per month were nailed with an average hike of 61%, while people already paying $1,000 or more were slapped with an average 18% increase.

Across the board, tenants saw an average rent increase of $195 per month.

While the city's vacancy rate improved from 1.2% in 2006 to 3.4% this year, Kinley said that figure is deceptive.

Most of the available units are in the high price range, which means low and moderately priced housing is still extremely rare, she said.

This also means that poor people can feel trapped in rundown or unsafe housing because they can't find anything better in their price range.

"Despite some improvement in the vacancy rate," the report says, "five times more renters reported that their housing situation is getting worse rather than better."

Last spring the council surveyed 727 renters from all walks of life in the city to gather its data.

Kinley said the council hopes to present the survey and recommendations to Housing Minister Yvonne Fritz in the next few weeks.

The council has a list of recommendations for government, including:

- Rent controls restricting annual increases to the consumer price index plus 2% (with exceptions for extraordinary expenses and new construction);

- Making developers set aside 15% of all multi-unit projects for affordable rentals (up from the current 5%);

- Use human rights legislation to end adults-only rental buildings;

- More inspections and better enforcement of health and safety codes.

The full report and recommendations can be found at www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca.

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