Housing

Submitted by jsuart on Tue, 2011-09-27 11:50

JUMP AHEAD

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Finding a home is getting harder

Housing supply is not keeping up with future needs

In 2006, there were a total of 48,925 households in the City of Kingston – an increase of 10.0% from 1996. Projections show that the number of households in Kingston will increase nearly 50% to 72,900 in 2041. To keep pace, Kingston will need a steady increase of housing units every year to accommodate the growing number of households. Housing starts, however, are not keeping up. The total number of housing starts rose slightly by 0.4% between 2006 to 2010. In 2010, there were 467 housing starts. The proportion of apartment starts decreased from 38.9% of all housing starts in 2009 to 15.0% in 2010, representing only 70 units.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Finding rental housing is getting harder and harder

The rental vacancy rates in Kingston are consistently one of the lowest in Canada. In the fall of 2010, Kingston had the lowest vacancy rate in Canada of all metropolitan areas. Part of the problem is the dwindling number of rental units, which decreased from 19,545 in 1996 to 18,475 in 2006.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Disadvantaged groups can’t get the housing they need

Social Housing

Social housing or “rent-geared-to income” housing provides government subsidies for households with low incomes who could not afford to live in private rental accommodation. This is done through the provision of social housing rental units in the community and rent supplements to private sector landlords. Adequate social housing ensures that all households have affordable, appropriate, stable, and secure housing. The 2011 Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of  Kingston And County Of Frontenac found that of the approximately 1,100 households on the social housing waiting list, almost 65% were in need of a one-bedroom unit while another 21% needed a two bedroom unit. Those requiring a one bedroom unit have the longest wait for housing. Most of the existing social housing stock was built when the demographics consisted of larger families. That has created a disconnect between the current need and the stock available. 

The Homeless

There is a lack of emergency shelter and transitional housing spaces in Kingston. There are five shelters with a total of 93 beds serving the City of Kingston and County of Frontenac. Most have 100% occupancy rates and sometimes have to turn people away due to the lack of space. There are also 232 transitional housing beds, primarily serving those with mental health issues. There are a very limited number of transitional beds available for those needing to move from a temporary emergency shelter into a longer-stay, supported environment. This has been consistently noted as a gap in the service delivery system both in terms of available transitional beds and the adequate levels of supports to maintain them.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Poverty has a significant cost for governments. The federal and Ontario government are losing between $10.4 billion to $13.1 billion a year due to poverty. In real terms, poverty costs every household in Ontario between $2,299 and $2,895 every year.

Source: A Place First, the United Way serving Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, 2009

Students

The demand for student housing in Kingston outweighs the current supply. For example, in 2009, about 12,000 Queen’s University students lived off campus. This high level of demand not only presents challenges for university students, it also creates added competition for the more affordable forms of housing often pursued by lower income households.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Seniors

There is a lack of affordable housing options for our aging population, particularly in rural areas outside of Kingston. The lack of affordable and appropriate housing options for seniors and support services to allow them to age in place is forcing many seniors to leave their communities or to go into long term care facilities.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Too many people can’t afford adequate homes

More than 7,500 families are in Core Housing Need

One way to measure housing is through Core Housing Need. A household is said to be in core housing need if its housing falls below at least one of the national standards for adequacy, affordability or suitability and it would have to spend 30 per cent or more of its total before-tax income to pay for alternatives that meets all three housing standards. In 2006, 2,035 or five percent of all owner households in the Kingston CMA were in core housing need. For rental households, the number was 5,510 or 29.70 per cent.

Source: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011

Affordability is a major issue

Many people in Kingston don’t make enough to pay for an adequate house or rental apartment. The Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac found that only those making $69,000 a year can afford to live in a detached home. For semi-detached homes and row houses, an annual salary of $53,000 would be required.  Average rents for a one-bedroom unit would be affordable to occupations earning more than $32,000 annually. A three bedroom apartment would be affordable to people earning more than $53,000 annually. By this measure, a minimum wage earner, making roughly $21,000 a year, would not be able to afford to rent or own a home in Kingston. Using Census data, we can determine that 12.5% of the families in Greater Kingston can’t afford to live in a one-bedroom apartment and 25% can’t afford to own a semi-detached or row house.

Sources: Municipal Housing Strategy For The City Of Kingston And County Of Frontenac, Feb 2011 & Nutritious Food Survey from Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health