A Regional Housing Affordability Strategy for the Capital Region

1
A Regional Housing Affordability Strategy for the
Capital Region
Urban Aspects Consulting Group Ltd.Lumina
Services Inc.G.P. Rollo and Associates Ltd.,
Land Economists
2
The Funding Partners

• CRD
• Vancouver Island Health Authority
• Capital Region Hospital Board
• BC Housing
• Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation
• Capital Region Housing Corporation

3
Setting the Context

• Victoria houses at all time high(May/02)
• B.C. house prices lead Canada (June/02)
• Rental vacancy rate 0.5 for apartments, 0.2 for
  town homes
• Budget constraints reduced government
  assistance
• I would prefer not to live on the streets with
  my children
• Where are my children going to be able to live
  and work ten years from now?
• We are in this together

4
Our Approach

• Creative, innovative, inclusive, flexible, and
  pragmatic
• Data Analysis
• Policy and Regulatory Framework
• Financing and Partnership Mechanisms
• Community Involvement, Education Commitment
• Phase One Assembling the Database The
  Working Capacity
• Phase Two Innovations Testing and Building
  Capacity
• Phase Three Strategic Recommendations
  Growing Capacity

5
Phase One Assembling the Database The
Working Capacity

• Market Analysis
• Baseline Data
• Local Needs, Issues, Assets, Resources and
  Capacities
• Housing Affordability Forecasting
• Housing Market Analysis
• Assessment of Policy, Legislative and Regulatory
  Framework
• Local Government, RGS and Health Authority
• Fees, Construction Costs and Development Process
• Partnership, Financing and Tenure Arrangements

6
Phase One Assembling the Database The
Working Capacity continued

• Consultation
• Socially and Economically Inclusive
• The Publics
• The Process
• Housing Affordability Partnership
• Awareness Raising Attitudinal Shift
• Building Community Resources
• Workshop 1 and Working Paper 1

7
Phase Two Innovations Testing and Building
Capacity

• Identifications of Housing Needs, Obstacles and
  Challenges
• Identification of Solutions Policy/Legislative/R
  egulatory
• Partnerships, Financial and Tenure Arrangements
• Push the envelope
• Community building
• Integration of 3 strategies
• Consultation
• Attitudinal shift create buy-in
• Workshop 2 The Challenge and the Opportunity
• Working Paper 2

8
Phase Three Strategic Recommendations
Growing Capacity

• Identify Practical Policies and Gain Commitment
• Institutional Changes
• Regulatory Changes
• Strategic Partnerships to Leverage Resources
• Innovative and Practical Housing
• Implementation - Short, Medium and Long Term
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
• Consultation Workshop 3 and Open House
• Final Report

9
The Timing

• Phase 1 Our Working Capacity completed by end
  of August
• Phase 2 Testing and Building Capacity
  (September November)
• Phase 3 Growing Capacity (December/02
  April/03)
• For further information check the CRD Web site
  http//www.crd.bc.ca/regplan/RGS/Reports/Strategic
  /Has.htm

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Overview and Trends

• Housing Needs and Market Analysis

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A New Canadian Pastime? Counting Homeless
People David Hulchanski, University of
Toronto
Theres no accounting for the poor Poverty
numbers are less important than policy. Steve
Kerstetter, National Council on Welfare
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A Work in Progress
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Presentation Outline

• Demographics
• Housing Market
• Affordability Data
• Trends
• Issues and Gaps

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Population, CMA

• 1981 247,800
• 1986 256,300
• 1991 288,071
• 1996 304,582
• 2001 312,063

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Migration
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Age Distribution, 2001
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Housing Stock
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Tenure
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Household type by tenure

• Husband-wife families, with or without children,
  tend to be owners (almost 80)
• Single parent families tend to be renters (55)
• Non-family households tend to be renters (also
  55)

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Income by tenure

• Average income owner households 60,000
• Average income renter households 32,000

21
Housing Starts
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Inventory of new homes
23
New house prices
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Single family resale market strengthening
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Resale house prices
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Vacancy rates dropping
27
Rents increasing
28
Household incomes
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What IS affordable housing?
Housing is affordable if households can obtain
suitable (big enough) and adequate (reasonably
good condition) housing without spending more
than 30 of their income on shelter.
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Victoria households in core housing need
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The renters in core need who are they?
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Within those groups

• People on disability pensions 3,500 people on
  disability pensions
• Special needs groups
• And the homeless not part of the core need
  numbers Assets and Gaps report

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The owners in core housing need who are they?
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Core need, Post-1996 trends

• 3 in 4 core need households are renters
• Vacancy rates almost zero
• Rents are increasing
• Social housing construction will slow
  dramatically
• No new rental construction
• Social housing waiting lists increasing
• Likely Result increased core need

35
Aspenhood?
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A Closing Thought from San Diego
Everyone has an image of affordable housing as a
New York City or Chicago housing project coming
into their neighborhoods. The people who require
housing are our kids, the people who teach school
for us, the nurse in the hospital. They are us.