CBU researchers say housing crisis in 2 communities worse than federal stats suggest

A new study out of Cape Breton University suggests the housing crisis in two local communities is much worse than what's been officially reported in federal statistics.

The study, by political scientists Jan Hancock and Andrew Molloy, says the number of people living in unaffordable housing in those Cape Breton Regional Municipality communities is double the number identified by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

"It was quite shocking to see the extent of unaffordable housing, but these are stories that we hear all the time," Hancock said in an interview. "The CMHC is underreporting the affordability crisis in the CBRM."

Hancock said according to the CMHC, 15 per cent of CBRM residents cannot afford housing, but the researchers conducted a survey of just Glace Bay and New Waterford residents and found 30 per cent have housing affordability problems.

In an email, a CMHC spokesperson said the 15-per-cent figure cited does not come from the agency's survey data, but is a measure of several housing standards that includes affordability and comes from census data provided by Statistics Canada.

Hancock said the CMHC does not distinguish between renters and homeowners and its surveys do not include those renting a suite in someone's home or commercial space, which is considered the secondary housing market.

The primary market includes buildings with more than three units, such as apartment blocks.

The CBU study — conducted with help from the Town House Glace Bay Citizens Service League, which serves vulnerable populations in Glace Bay and New Waterford — found that homeowners in those two communities are mostly satisfied with the affordability of their housing.

However, more than half of renters there are in the secondary housing market and 90 per cent of them say their housing is unaffordable, Hancock said.

"Interestingly enough in our survey, the most unaffordable housing was being paid by tenants in the secondary market and of course the CMHC doesn't collect those statistics," he said.

Hancock said the federal housing agency's data includes average rental costs, but the survey is based on larger urban centres such as Halifax Regional Municipality, and without local data, the numbers are not reliable.

"The CMHC give levels of housing costs at approximately $850 to $1,000 per month on average for rental properties, but if you look on Kijiji today, you won't find a one-bedroom apartment or two-bedroom apartment in New Waterford or Glace Bay available for $850," he said. "It's just impossible."

Results not a surprise

The federal numbers also do not reflect the rental market in Nova Scotia because there are two types of renters, Hancock said.

Some are in rent-controlled units, paying 30 to 40 per cent under the market rate. But others are not under rent controls and the lack of housing availability in Glace Bay and New Waterford has driven up the price of what is available, he said.

The CMHC spokesperson said the agency does not list average asking rent, but provides a weighted average that includes all rental units, whether occupied or not.

He said the agency conducts several surveys on rental markets, including a condominium apartment survey in Halifax that represents secondary housing and a separate survey on social and affordable housing.

In some communities where smaller sample size is a concern, such as Glace Bay and New Waterford, surveys are based on data from the wider Cape Breton area, the spokesperson said.

CMHC only surveys rentals, but it does include analysis on home ownership in its housing market outlook, and the numbers are not blended, he also said.

Town House executive director Patti McDonald said the CBU study results were not a surprise to her.

"That's what we've been hearing [from clients]," she said.

"That's why we wanted to participate in this research, because there wasn't any information specifically about Glace Bay-New Waterford. It was all very general."

McDonald said clients are suffering in housing units that are not suitable, but they can't afford to move.

"If you own a home, your mortgage is probably lower than what people are paying for rent, and so the data is definitely backing up what we're seeing and hearing."

According to a provincial study, CBRM needs at least 1,000 new housing units by next year to ease the housing shortage.

Earlier this month, planning director Tyson Simms told council that more than 900 units will have been started or built by the end of this year.

Survey to expand across CBRM

New housing is being built in Glace Bay, but it hasn't yet increased the availability or affordability for Town House clients, McDonald said.

However, some private developers are now approaching Town House and asking the community about its needs, which is a good sign, she said.

"We are seeing the needle move a little bit, but nothing's ever enough until folks are in the type of housing they need to be in."

Meanwhile, Hancock said he plans to expand the survey across the CBRM to help target affordable housing in communities where it's needed the most.

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