Sep. 14, 2010 - Issue #778 : Pilobolus

Housing for all

Mayfair Village is one piece in a large housing puzzle

One year ago Mayor Mandel committed to the goal of a home for every Edmontonian by 2019. With the city coming out of the crushing weight of an overheated housing market just a few years ago, there are many Edmontonians still trying to recover and get into the housing market for the first time. The goal of providing these opportunities requires the city, developers and non-profit providers to get creative.

The Mayfair Village project is just one example of how the city is taking on the challenge of providing housing for everyone. With partners in the federal, provincial and municipal government, the private developer Procura will be providing 237 spaces to families and individuals. With federal and provincial government contributions totalling $6.3 million and municipal contributions at $7.8 million the Mayfair Village project will deliver rental spaces at 10 percent below market average rents.

John Kolkman of the Edmonton Social Planning Council acknowledges that some may be leery of this project being led by a private developer: "The issue we have to be cognizant of is that people might question whether $14 million dollars of public money should go towards a $40-million-dollar project."

But Kolkman also points out that this is not the first private sector project to receive public money to provide affordable housing. Edmonton's Cornerstone's project, initiated in 2001, has brought forward over 2500 affordable rental units, 17 percent of which are through partnerships with the private sector. Almost 40 percent of the projects under Cornerstone's purview was new construction in the private sector.

This is housing mostly targeted at low-income earners: students, seniors, and the underemployed. The city estimates that there is a gap of almost 20 000 units throughout the city needed to accommodate low-income earners and those spending over 30 percent of their income on housing. And for these people a unit that is just 10 percent below market value can be helpful says John Kolkman of the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

"The Mayfair Village is really building what is called near market housing units," Kolkman explains. "The only real issue facing the folks is affordability and so for them, paying below full market rents can be potentially helpful."

A June 2010 report by MP Peter Goldring, who helped bring the project to the federal government's attention, made claims to his constituents that the private sector can provide affordable housing at a lower cost than non-profit organizations.

Kolkman believes these claims have to be treated carefully. Private sector projects have for the most part been directed at simply providing near-market housing, and not the housing that many homeless and mentally-ill individuals require to get them into the housing market.

"The chronically homeless, many with severe mental illness and disabilities or addictions and for those folks sticking them in a rental home is not going to be successful and you need support services to keep them," Kolkman says. "24/7 support housing is going to cost more to government than simply Mayfair Village providing lower-level rents."

Homeward Trust executive director Susan McGee points out that any additional housing helps to relieve a strained market. "The entire rental universe in Edmonton has shrunk, particularly the affordable ones," she says. "So those not able to own single-family housing have been more limited in what their options are, so we're happy to see any addition to that."

And while the housing may not directly assist the 2500 homeless people populating Edmonton's streets, McGee believes the additional affordable housing provided by the private sector helps to take pressure off the non-profit sector which can then focus on service provision: "It also provides more opportunity in terms of choice of location, which contributes to their success."

But the opening of the Mayfair Village project next September signals the end of the city's Cornerstone's housing strategy which has directed the city's approach on low-income housing for the last 10 years. Although the project will continue to oversee housing being developed over the next couple of years, it means the city needs to implement a new low income housing strategy for the next 10 years. V

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