Joshua Evans
Associate Professor of Human Geography
University of Alberta
Image created with OpenAI.
This week, Edmonton City Council meets to approve the rezoning of several parcels for affordable housing, including a surplus school site. A former school site may seem disconnected from the crisis of homelessness but it is in fact a crucial part of the solution. Let me connect the dots.
The Crisis at Hand
The number of unhoused Edmontonians is unprecedented. Homeward Trust Edmonton reports that 4,011 individuals accessing services offered by partner organizations this past July were unhoused or temporarily accommodated, a 37% increase from the year prior.
The most recently available data released by the Government of Alberta reports that 1,014 individuals stayed overnight in emergency shelters on July 31. The previous July it was 736. The July before that it was 530.
The crux of the problem is that the number of individuals entering homelessness each month is greater than the number we are currently able to re-house with existing resources. As a result, the number of unhoused individuals grows each month. Reducing the inflow of people into homelessness is therefore essential if we want to end the crisis.
Prevention is Key to Ending Homelessness
In this regard, prevention is key and affordable housing is one of the best forms of prevention. To decrease the inflow we must increase the supply of affordable housing as much and as quickly as possible. Many people are currently unhoused because they cannot afford the housing that is available to them. Many more are at risk of losing their housing.
According to data from the most recent Canadian Housing Survey, 22% of renters (or 32,000 households) in the Edmonton region are not in subsidized housing and are in Core Housing Need meaning their housing is either inadequate, unsuitable, or unaffordable and they would have to pay more than 30% of their income for their housing needs to be adequately met.
For those with low household incomes, making rent is difficult, especially in a market that has seen vacancy decrease and rents rapidly increase over the past year. It means skipping meals or other essentials to make rent. This is not an option for those on income support programs such as Alberta Works: housing costs already take up 75-80% of a person’s income. Many low income households are waiting for subsidized housing; however, in Edmonton the wait can be longer than two years. While they wait, they are vulnerable to eviction and becoming unhoused.
Research on homelessness reinforces the call for more affordable housing. U.S. researchers Greg Colburn and Clayton Aldern have shown that places with higher rents at the bottom of the rental market have higher rates of homelessness. University of Calgary researchers Ron Kneebone and Margarita Wilkins analyzed Canadian data and found a similar relationship. Their research shows that rental costs are a key determinant of homelessness levels and that the most effective policy response is to lower the costs of rental housing.
Land for Affordable Housing is Essential
Adding market supply to keep pace with population growth can moderate price increases; however, it is the addition of below-market rental housing that ultimately reduces the risk of becoming unhoused. This is where the surplus school sites come in.
Bringing new housing to market is expensive, and land is one of the biggest costs. Unlocking underutilized land in prime locations – such as surplus school sites – is one of the most powerful levers governments have.
Edmonton City Council is at a crossroads: bend to private interests and keep affordable housing scarce or show they respect the human right to housing by making this land available for new affordable housing. Only one of these choices will reduce the risk of homelessness and alleviate the crisis experienced by thousands of people each year in Edmonton.