Building affordable housing at Big Lake Pointe is one thing, but determining just who can find the rent money to live there is quite another.
Big Lake Pointe got a kick-start last month thanks to a $6.8-million federal/provincial grant. Construction is scheduled for completion in 14 months.
That means in March 2013, 78 renters will be able to take up residence in their new digs, but Doris Vandersteen, executive director of the St. Albert Housing Society, is already getting requests from anxious families.
"On a daily basis we get people looking for affordable housing," Vandersteen said.
The 78 suites will be rented at 10 per cent less than the average St. Albert rents as surveyed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
By 2013 the rents will likely be different, but Vandersteen estimates that at current rates, one-bedroom apartments would go for $766 per month.
"According to the affordable housing definition of CMHC, excluding heat, rent must not be more than 30 per cent of the household income," Vandersteen said.
That means that a person wishing to rent a one-bedroom suite at Big Lake Pointe would need an income of between $30,640 and $34,000.
"For the one-bedroom suite, a person would need to make $15.70 per hour or have someone to share accommodation," she said, as she explained the social ramifications of this requirement.
"What happens to a single mom, who is making minimum wage, is she has to share rent. That means she has to return to a relationship, or perhaps start a new one that may not be the best solution for her or for her family," Vandersteen said, adding that families that are split have further complications of paying for two households.
"A young single dad may have his children on weekends so he needs three bedrooms all the time. He would need an income of $42,640 to rent a three-bedroom," she said.
A St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village study completed in February showed that 95 per cent of their 434 of clients are renters.
"Many of them were needing food bank assistance because the percentage of their income spent on rent was too high," Vandersteen said.
The food bank survey showed that 87 per cent of its clients spent more than the CMHC recommended amount for affordable housing. Almost half the food bank clients spent at least 70 per cent of their income on rent.
Rental assistance
St. Albert's rental assistance program was established in 2008, when the province provided the city with $2.3 million for affordable housing. City council used $265,000 of that money to create the program, which provides up to $400 a month for seniors and individuals or up to $550 per month for families.
"The program will continue until the program runs out of money, which I believe will be next year," said Vandersteen.
In the first seven months of this year, the programs assisted 152 families and of those 64 were single-parent families.
"Affordable housing is central to everything. Every time you look at people's needs, it goes back to their needing affordable housing," said Vandersteen, who has started a fundraising campaign to help with rental assistance.
"As soon as we have a tenant occupancy date, we will invite prospective tenants to our application process," Vandersteen said.
