The Community Development Institute (CDI) at UNBC has launched a new online housing information portal.
“The CDI has been looking at housing issues in non-metropolitan BC for many years now, and in our studies, we have realized housing is a major issue for smaller communities in our province,” said CDI Co-Director Marleen Morris.
“We have issues around tenant affordability, we have issues around age of housing stock, energy-efficiency of housing stock, the condition of housing stock.”
Morris added that housing stock was not meeting the needs of the population.
“We have a mismatch between the housing stock that is available, which is generally large houses, and the needs of smaller households, and we have very little smaller housing in our communities,” Morris explained.
“We created this housing portal to provide information to local governments, to people who build and construct housing, and to the housing and community societies, so that they are aware of the housing needs in the community, so they can better plan and address the future needs of housing in their community. In many communities, unless the housing issue is dealt with, it’s really having a negative effect on economic potential, employers are having a hard time recruiting staff, it’s hard to recruit teachers, doctors, RCMP officers to the community, because the housing stock doesn’t meet expectations.”
For the average person looking at moving to a BC community, Morris says the portal will give information on what housing is like in that community.
“You’ll be able to see the age of the housing in that community,” Morris said.
“You’ll be able to see whether it’s mainly single family dwellings, or whether there’s some condos or townhouses available, whether there are apartments available. You’ll be able to see the condition of the housing stock, you’ll be able to see the average price is for a house in that community, and you’ll be able to see how many renters are actually having trouble with the rent payments.”
The study found that there has been an increase in one- and two-person households, due to more empty nesters and young people delaying having children, and there has been a decrease in four- or more person households. In addition, housing stock in the sample communities is old, with 57 per cent built before 1981.
The study also found that 40 per cent of tenants in non-metropolitan BC are considered vulnerable, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on rent. The study also found that in 80% of sample communities, the rental housing stock is worse condition than Vancouver.