Rental housing crisis in city
More people are getting desparate to find an affordable place to live, Coun. Henry Clarke says
The city’s lack of affordable rental housing has reached a point of crisis, says one city councillor, and he wants something done about it.
Coun. Henry Clarke, a long-time advocate for affordable housing, said at a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday that he’s hearing from more and more people who are facing homelessness.
“I am greatly concerned by the continued calls we are receiving from people who are desperate to find a place to live,” Clarke said.
He asked city planning director Jeffrey Humble to write an email to city councillors outlining some the city can step in and immediately help.
Clarke said he’s particularly concerned about a lack of apartments to rent in Peterborough.
He mentioned one woman he knows who works three part-time jobs. She rents an apartment in a building that was recently sold, and she has to move out June 1, but she can’t find a place to rent that she can afford.
Clarke also mentioned that the Youth Emergency Shelter (YES) downtown is full of families when it once was meant for young people seeking shelter. Families have no place else to turn.
“And yet the city has nothing in reserve,” Clarke said. “I honestly don’t know any quick fix .... We have a crisis in the community that is only going to get worse.”
Clarke said perhaps the revision to the city’s Official Plan, which is in the works, will include some provisions that will help people in the future.
But there’s an immediate need for rental housing, he said, and he wants to hear from Humble soon about potential ways the city can help now.
“I’m looking for any thoughts that might help,” Clarke said.
Humble said he would send an email to councillors.
City staff recently confirmed that vacancy rates for rental housing in Peterborough are remarkably low.
The vacancy rate for a one-bedroom apartment, for example, is around 1.3 per cent - down from 5.8 per cent three years ago.
There are so few apartments available in Peterborough right now that the Warming Room, an emergency shelter that is usually open from November to the end of April, is staying open until the end of June because people have no place to go.
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