Finding shelter
Islanders look for accommodation solutions at Kinkora March 4 meeting
KINKORA, P.E.I. – Finding a place to live is hard in a healthy housing market and with the current crunch on P.E.I., rural Islanders are looking for solutions.
Residents in electoral District 19 met with provincial officials on March 4 to talk about how to increase housing options.
Member of Legislatve Assembly Jamie Fox kicked off the discussion. He said businesses are looking to find homes for their employees.
“We can get the workers, but we have no places for people to stay in some cases,” said Fox.
District 19 includes the municipalities of Kinkora, Bedeque, Borden-Carleton and Crapaud.
Area residents heard about financial supports available from Finance P.E.I. and the Department of Social Development and Housing.
“Our (housing) registry does go by need, so the areas we cover when we do your assessment give you an overall score and that’s how we base who is in the most need," said housing officer Vanessa Jollimore with the Department of Social Development and Housing.
She added when a vacant unit becomes available, the unit if offered to the person at the beginning of the queue.
The selections are made by at least two housing officers and are signed off by a supervisor, said Jollimore.
Staff with the department interview each applicant and work to gauge the need accurately.
“We try to phrase it like,
'If you could live anywhere, where would you want to live',” said Jollimore.
RURAL DEMAND
Officials from municipalities in District 19 were at the meeting to express their want and need for more housing.
Bedeque Mayor Ron Rayner had a study done three years ago to assess the need for seniors housing in Bedeque.
The town has set aside seven acres of land for a housing development, but nothing has been built yet.
Developer Kyle Glover wants to build in Bedeque.
“Nobody wants to leave their community to go look out the windows at a hospital for the next ten years. They want to stay where they are,” said Glover.
But Bedeque isn’t the only town looking to grow its inventory of homes.
Borden-Carleton Coun. Laurel Palmer-Thompson said while larger centres seem to have lots of assistance, smaller rural communities are struggling to find financial help to attract builders. It places the town of Borden-Carleton is a catch-22, she said.
“We have developers who are willing to come in and do work within the community but they need to know the demographics, they need to know the demand. They need to know, basically, what the needs are.”
A recent application to fund a housing needs assessment was denied by the Department of Social Development and Housing.
Fox, who is also the communities minister offered his help and said he would fund 50 per cent of a consultant study under the rural development fund.
BUILDING SUPPORT
The province has the money and information to help developers decide where to build, said Cody Clinton with the Department of Social Development.
In lieu of funding formal housing needs assessments for municipalities, the department keeps tabs on where people are looking to live.
The province’s affordable housing development program provides construction grants on a per-unit basis up to $45,000 per unit.
In turn, the developer keeps rent low, provides heat and hot water and takes in clients looking for housing assistance.
Bedeque Mayor Ron Rayner has watched federal funds go to Charlottetown, Summerside and Montague two years in a row.
“I’m quite concerned where the money’s going to come from for rural areas,” said Rayner.
In November, Finance P.E.I. launched a new loan program for smaller developments, said Jamie Aitken, chief executive officer for Finance P.E.I.
His department spoke to close to 30 developers from across the Island and found that construction financing, competitive interest rates and quick turn-arounds are holding back developments.
Finance P.E.I. can now provide a loan for 90 per cent of construction, up to $4 million per project.
They can also loan up to 80 per cent of renovation costs. Ideally, the renos will create new units, rather than modifying existing dwellings.
“We’re targeting projects that are rural P.E.I. We’re not looking for the large projects in downtown Charlottetown or Summerside.
“We’re trying to find that niche market for rural P.E.I," said Aitken.
Since the launch of the loan program, they have approved construction of 84 units across the Island.
"(The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and the charter banks will continue to finance bigger projects.
“We’re trying to fill that little market that we identified with developers that was potentially being underserviced," said Aitken.