CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Charlottetown’s youth retention advisory board delivered a blunt message on Thursday, saying the issue of affordable housing has reached the crisis point.
“It is time to burst the proverbial bubble that P.E.I. is an affordable place to live,’’ said Zac Murphy, a member of the board, as it delivered the findings of a survey it did earlier this year.
“It is our view that if we do not act quickly and decisively in the problem of retaining and repatriating youth in P.E.I. that this issue will become increasingly difficult,’’ said fellow board member Alex Youland.
Affordability and accessibility were the two main themes of the survey’s findings. It found that while shelter costs should be about 30 per cent of income, 56 per cent of youth who participated in the survey reported spending more than 30 per cent, regardless of income, on housing.
It also found that the cost of living has increased quickly without an increase in wages in P.E.I. While the average salary in Canada is $51,000 per year, it’s $42,000 in P.E.I. and more than 58 per cent of respondents reported earning less than $35,000.
More than half of the survey respondents said they were unhappy with their current housing situation, primarily because of cost.
The survey ran from Jan. 16 to Feb. 16 and received more than 850 responses from youth in Charlottetown, Cornwall and Stratford. The youth retention board considers youth anyone who falls between the ages of 16 and 35. The goal of the survey was to collect data that can be used to shape policy with city council and government.
Related: Charlottetown mayor expects proposed housing policy to be developed very soon
Recommendations
Following are recommendations from the youth retention advisory board survey on affordable housing:
- A certain share of units and new projects should be set aside for families at a given income threshold
- Reduce minimum parking requirements for new buildings
- Change building codes to make it easier to rehab older buildings
- Create a revolving affordable housing loan fund
- Work to increase average wages on P.E.I.
- Further examine and address the effect of Airbnb on the housing market
Lydia Peters, another member of the youth board, said the majority of respondents were women while 75 per cent reported to have graduated form college or university.
Murphy said access to affordable housing is a critical issue.
“We heard from many people who were living with their parents or other family members, renting but wanting to buy a home, living in substandard housing or with roommates because they can’t afford to live on their own,’’ Murphy said.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), affordability means spending no more than 30 per cent of before-tax household income on housing but 56 per cent of respondents said they were spending more than that, regardless of their employment status.
The other critical issue Youland said they found relates to accessibility. Last November, CMHC reported that P.E.I. had record low vacancy rates of less than one per cent, compared to 7.9 per cent in 2014. The board’s report suggests the influx in Airbnb rental properties has contributed to the housing shortage, with more than 300 Airbnb registered rentals available in the province.
Youland said that includes “zero vacancies for bachelor apartments and an overall vacancy of less than one per cent in Charlottetown’’.
Youland said if the gap can be closed between affordability and accessibility it will not only benefit the youth population in P.E.I. but all age demographics in the province.
