'Listening forums' scheduled this week

Edmonton Sun
May 22, 2007

By Frank Landry, City Hall Bureau

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A city group is rallying frustrated renters to speak up against soaring living costs and a lack of affordable housing.

But the Edmonton Social Planning Council is not going as far as asking for the rent controls others have been demanding.

“It’s quite unprecedented and verging on a crisis,” Susan Morrissey, executive director of the planning council, said of the city’s current housing crunch.

Morrissey’s group, along with councillors Michael Phair and Dave Thiele, is hosting two “renters listening forums” this week.

She said her group isn’t asking for the province to implement rent caps – at least not yet.

“We’re trying to understand the depth of the problem at this point in time,” Morrissey said.

Phair said feedback and personal stories collected during the sessions will be forwarded to MLAs and city councillors.

“We’re really wanting people to understand how significant and how widespread this is across the city,” Phair said.

The forum comes at a time when rent has shot up 47% since 1998 and the vacancy rate is below 1%, according to the social planning council.

The group also says 40% of Edmontonians are renters, one of the highest percentages of any Canadian city.

Phair said there was a housing crunch in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but things appear far worse this time.

“I think what is perhaps different this time is how widespread the crisis is,” he said. “It’s not only Edmonton and Calgary, but almost any city of any size in Alberta.”

Reports have suggested rents in the Edmonton region could rise 30% by October 2008.

The opposition Liberals have repeatedly called for rent controls, but Premier Ed Stelmach has shot down the suggestion.

The forums take place this Wednesday and Thursday, from 7-8:30 p.m., at the Stanley Milner Library.  

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