Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
March 26, 2018 - 7:30 PM
KELOWNA – The province’s watchdog for children and youth says the housing crisis in the Okanagan is hurting young people and families the most.
Bernard Richard is the Representative for Children and Youth, responsible for helping young British Columbians and their families navigate the child and youth welfare system.
He says the housing crisis is resulting in some youth becoming vulnerable and some families are being torn apart.
“The general rule is that poverty and housing in themselves are not sufficient to justify taking children into care but… if we’re realistic, we know that it’s taken into consideration along with any other issue that might be present," he says.
The rental availability rate in Kelowna currently sits around 0.2 per cent, making it the hardest city in Canada to find a place to rent. The Interior’s largest city also had the biggest jump in rent last year, with average costs increasing 8.6 per cent to $1,043.
Some wannabe-renters in the Okanagan have gone to extreme lengths to find housing.
A City of Kelowna housing study released last year found close to one-third of renters spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, which means more people are having to rely on the government. And the wait list for a place to live appears to be growing longer every day.
As of earlier this month, B.C. Housing’s supportive housing registry for the Central Okanagan had 1,200 names vying for roughly 190 units that meet the provincial requirements for supportive housing.
Gaelene Askeland, executive director of the John Howard Society of the Central Okanagan, told iNFOnews.ca earlier this month many of those on the waiting list are forced to use short term homeless shelters – those with children are at the mercy of the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Richard says issues like heat during winter months, sanitary conditions and safety could all be impacted by a temporary loss of housing.
“Housing is something that comes up a great deal in the work that we do. It is one factor among a whole host of factors that a child protection worker has to take into account. Families can’t always find adequate housing. It certainly can make them more vulnerable.”
He says youth graduating out of the system are also being hit especially hard. With little or no family supports they often end up either homeless or couch surfing.
“It’s hard enough if you have a full-time, well-paying job, but we know that youth from care tend not to graduate from high school, so they are the low end of the employment scale."
The issue, Richard says, is "clearly significant" and growing.
“The cost of housing is not going down. It was a major issue in the last provincial budget for a reason. People are impacted by it. People of British Columbia are concerned about the difficulty in finding… affordable housing and making ends meet because of the high cost of housing.
“Absolutely I think it’s getting worse.”
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