When the housing dries up, what next?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2013 (4932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A decision to demolish a Green Acres senior’s complex, as reported this week in the Brandon Sun, has caused a bit of a stir and left a number of lower-income residents in a lurch to find permanent residency in another location.

In most cases when this happens people would find new opportunities and merely relocate, the building would come down and the developer would proceed with their new plans for the site. Problem easily solved right? Everyone is happy and safe in their new digs and the developer is able to repurpose the property according to a new vision for the land.

The kicker though, with that above statement, is the very realistic fact that is growing in our community, where do the residents go? And although this is an isolated case it points to a bigger systemic issue for Brandon, what to do with affordable housing opportunities and where will the growing population of seniors go as the rooms continue to dry up?

Brandon like many other communities throughout the country, is continuing to be pressed hard by the largest population bump of our time. The baby boomer generation is entering retirement and as they do a continuingly larger number require increased access to healthcare, services, pension and amenities as well as clean, safe and affordable housing opportunities.

These should be services provided to our population, basic human rights as Canadians and seniors should be no different. Many have worked hard their entire life and now in their “golden years” scramble on a daily basis to merely survive let alone thrive. The sandwich generation that follow is then pressed between raising children and caring for parents in economic times that are far from stable while up against a cost structure that has got away from us.

The reality for many seniors truly comes down to this, throughout their working life all the services and costs associated have grown at a much larger rate than their pension contributions or opportunities have. The non-parallel growth will continue at an alarming rate, something Brandon is not at all immune to. As each small pocket of affordable living opportunities disappear in place of more revenue positive opportunities so will our communities ability to care for our elders with dignity and grace.

Developers often bear the brunt publicly in these scenarios and I do not want to speak directly to the case of this property. The plans in place for the parcel of land have not been disclosed at this time. With that being said, few could argue a strong enough business case in construction of affordable housing alone. From a sheer market standpoint developers are saddled with many costs and the revenue return on subsidized or affordable housing just doesn’t exist in the current model.

Politically the need has always been there for increased programs and consultation with developers. The continued search to find some true common ground has seen both pitfalls and successes. With the current climate though, it may be time for the province to delve deeper into becoming true housing developers.

The province employs staff in a myriad of different trades. The time may be right to think differently when tackling apprenticeship and funding opportunities as part of a new housing initiative, a way to help prime the pump, so to speak. Take a willing portion of potential trades graduates and commit them to a given amount of time in affordable housing construction trades at the start of their career. In exchange a community with government offers schooling subsidy and or forgivable student loans to offset that training, thus doubling up on potential retraining opportunities while benefiting needs in a community.

We have seen scenarios similar to this with other skilled services such as doctors who receive assistance with schooling costs in return for service within a given community. The option made sense there, why not for affordable housing?

Municipalities and the federal government receive the units that are in need and a skilled workforce on the back end? Coupled with the already present municipal incentives and there may be a point that the rubber hits the road on affordable housing opportunities.

The present system is a start but as of yet they have not yielded the desired result to meet the growing need and the private sector opportunities often outweigh the public ones. The reality is though that need is ever increasing and in a time when a large portion of the population continues to seek out that need, if more action isn’t taken the pressing issues will not simply go away. If anything with an aging population and increased requirements for affordable options the current system in place will get far worse before ever having a chance to get better.