Out in the cold
The spotlight is being shone on another front door in Charlottetown's ongoing housing crisis.
Prince Edward Island has a vacancy rate of about 1.2 per cent, the lowest such rate in the country according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's most recent rental market survey. The national average is 1.5 per cent.
Charlottetown's vacancy rate mirrors that of the province at 1.2 per cent. It is a reflection of the continuing issue that is affecting too many city residents; in the most extreme cases, the housing crisis is resulting in people being left out in the cold, unable to find a place in which to hang their hat.
The most recent instance hit the headlines on Friday, when a group of city residents, fearing they will soon be left out in the cold, spoke out after their landlord issued eviction notices in order to complete renovations to the 100-plus-year-old building in which they live on Water Street.
The landloard, Dunne Group, wants residents out by April 30, in order to complete about $300,000 in upgrades and to address safety and building code issues, including asbestos abatement and adding a sprinkler system.
The landlord is well within the rules and his or her rights to want to do the work. The property manager adds Dunne Group has been in contact with P.E.I.'s housing regulator, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC), to ensure it is operating within the boundaries of the province's Residential Tenancies Act.
Those actions, however, do nothing to alleviate the real fear and hardship the people being forced out of their homes into a real estate rental market with a frighteningly low vacancy rate. They are scared. They ought to be.
They have few options and even fewer in their price range. They question if they'd even be welcome back after the renovations are completed - and even if they are it would certainly not be at their current rents. It would be unrealistic for any landlord to spend more than a quarter of a million dollars on a property and not raise the rents to recoup some of those costs.
These tenants are literally being put on in the cold by factors well beyond their control.
Resident Marlene Gallant said, "This is so sad that someone can come in and serve you a paper and say you have to get out of your home; that you have to leave."
She's right. But what is the answer?
Whatever it is it's bound to be a complex one. One that needs the immediate, undivided attention of the community as a whole – elected members and others.
Action needs to be taken, minds need to be open and ideas need to be shared. Together we need to look in the mirror, assess what is being reflected back at us and take action to fix this housing crisis as soon as possible. This is not the first time we've heard a story like this and it won't be the last. At least not anytime soon.