The affordable or low cost housing crisis is only getting worse in Saskatchewan and if the province intends to welcome even more newcomers within its borders for the rest of this year, something has to be accomplished within a short period of time.
While it's easy to keep our attention focused only on Estevan and southeast Saskatchewan, we hear troubling accounts of the same problem of not having enough residential units on the low cost side of the equation all over the province. Our working poor need places they can call home instead of having to couch surf, seek solace in shelters, beg a basement bedroom from a relative or stay in abusive or unwelcome situations only because they have nowhere else to go. Even the poor deserve some type of alternative when it comes to housing.
Yes, rent controls can work, but not as an isolated edict from a provincial government. They must be accompanied by incentives for property managers and the construction industry to build, maintain and manage low-cost rental units. Whether these incentives come in the form of tax breaks, upfront payments or long-term preferable amortization plans, it has to be done.
We read and heard from responsible property managers and landlords who could relate horror stories of low-cost rental units gone bad and how the majority of them are considerate and only raise rental rates by a percentage point or two every two or three years.
But for every one of those, there are also the rent gougers who feel they have to reclaim their investments within two to five years, so they hike rents by 20, 30 or even 50 per cent regularly. They chase the minimum or low wage earner out just because they can, knowing they will be replaced by a higher income earning newcomer. It's cases like that when the free enterprise "let the market decide" mantra becomes less believable.
There are times when it works and then there are times when some type of intervention is required to level the playing field.
That time is now.
Those who are in the rental field gain our empathy. One only has to experience the trials and tribulations of a property manager for a year or two to become aware of all the pitfalls that can rob them of any economic gain. Deadbeat renters who trash an apartment or home or leave a yard and walls and bathrooms in deplorable condition cost these people precious time and money. But no number of 50 per cent rental increases will do away with those who have no respect for property.
We feel that a well guided rent control moratorium for a few years, imposed only on a certain segment, along with proper incentives to encourage multi-unit construction, might do the trick. If not, then we will only get the continuation of the erection of the $600,000 monolithic castles that house two, three or four people while hundreds more in our community keep looking for a bed to sleep in that won't cost them a whole day's wages.
We want diversity in Estevan, not disparity and despair.
