Affordability log jam barring people from moving off the streets of Kelowna
There are about 500 supportive housing units in Kelowna, many of them occupied by people who would be happy to move out into the community.
But only a handful are able to make that transition every year because there’s just not enough affordable places for them to move into. That, in turn, means spaces aren’t freed up for the more than 250 people living on city streets to get a roof over their heads.
“There absolutely is a log jam that exists,” Mike Gawliuk, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Kelowna, told iNFOnews.ca.
The association manages five supportive housing buildings with more than 200 residents.
“When we look at people who have transitioned out of supportive housing into a community setting, there were just over 20 people last year,” Gawliuk said. “We provide rental subsidies and some lighter touch supports.”
The association leases about 80 apartments scattered around the city.
“It’s called a convertible lease model because, once the individual has established themselves in that building and developed relationships with their neighbours and landlord, that lease then converts into their name and really, the only support we offer at that time is a rental subsidy that makes it relatively affordable for them to live there.”
Gawliuk refused to speculate on how many residents in the supportive housing units his association manages are ready and able to move into the community because he didn’t want to underestimate that number.
“There are some people moving forward,” he said. “However, I would say there is a significant log jam as there are a group of individuals who reside in supportive housing who, with an economic intervention – that means access to affordable housing, whether that’s affordable housing buildings or rental subsidies – they could live in the community, with lighter touch supports.
“There are people who live in supportive housing who would be open to that. We live in Kelowna and the reality is, the cost of housing continues to go up.”
Patricia Bacon, executive director of the John Howard Society, did not have a tally of the number of people who have moved out of the more than 200 units her society manages but expressed the same frustration.
“(We have) a shelter as well as supported housing and smaller community housing programs,” she said in an email to iNFOnews.ca. “We continue to see bottlenecks along the housing continuum: with people in shelter who would be successful in supported housing but there are no vacancies. And people in supported housing who would be successful in market housing (with minor or no supports) but the pathway in is too costly.”
A person on social assistance can afford to pay about $500 a month for rent, Gawliuk said. With one-bedroom apartments going for $1,500 to $1,700 per month, an additional $1,000 per month rental subsidy would be needed to make it viable for people to relocate.
“The other part of it is that those units need to be available and you need to have property managers and landlords who are open to working together on this,” he said.
Rent subsidies need to be tied to the price of housing in Kelowna, he said, and more truly affordable units need to be built.
Bacon had a number of suggestions for changes, starting with a purpose-built shelter for short term stays for people who need housing.
Another would be for smaller buildings than those currently in operation with some supports. Rents would be geared to income so they would be available for less than market rentals but wouldn’t be fully subsidized.
“This would create a natural bridge from supported housing to market rental that would suit some people very well,” she wrote.
There’s also a need for additional fully supported housing for those who are aging and those who have complex mental health and/or substance use issues.
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That doesn’t mean that everyone in supportive housing is able to move into the community.
“There are some people who require permanent supportive housing and will need that for their entire life,” Gawliuk said. “That’s because they have outstanding needs and issues that that type of housing is going to be required for them. Another group may need supportive care but less intense, who could move on and into another housing setting and have lighter supports that meet their needs.”
The lack of affordable housing that prevents people from moving out of supportive housing is also forcing others out of their homes.
In some cases that’s because owners can legally evict them. But, in other cases, it’s people falling on tough times and not being able to meet their rent payment deadline, which can lead to eviction.
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The Canadian Mental Health Association operates a rent bank in Kelowna to help in those later situations.
“It’s a combination of either no interest loans or one-time grants, or a combination thereof, to keep the housing they have over their heads so we’re doing our part to shut the front door on more people becoming homeless,” Gawliuk.
But all of these are just pieces in a much larger puzzle that’s seeing dramatic increases in homelessness, currently at a rate of 100 more per year in the city.
“This is a challenge that’s taking place, obviously, across the province and across the country,” Gawliuk said. “We’re really just at the intersection of all the issues coming together. We’ve got major affordability issues. Obviously, there’s ongoing challenges around mental health and the drug poisoning crisis. It’s creating a super challenging time.”
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