The City of Calgary released its 2023 Housing Needs Assessment report Wednesday, but many Calgarians told Global News they don’t need a report to tell them the struggle is real.
Jane Hastings, who’s rented in Calgary for the past 20 years, has been looking for a new place to call home ever since getting her eviction notice.
She works with adults with different abilities and challenges and said the challenges for her these past few years have definitely increased — especially when it comes to cost.
“The rent has doubled — almost doubled,” she said. “I don’t begrudge anyone from making money. However, I do get quite upset when we’re gouging people.”
But there is another issue she said that has really upset her with Calgary’s current housing market. She said with so many renters looking for a place, landlords can be choosy and she added they’re not choosing those with any differing abilities.
Her longtime roommate and friend Kelly McNally lives with cerebral palsy.
“We’ve come across a few different people who do not want to rent to people with disabilities,” Hastings said. “One fellow just said that straight out to us. When I stopped bringing Kelly with me, I got more bites.”
2023 Housing Needs Assessment released by City of Calgary
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According to the City of Calgary report released Wednesday, low vacancy rates, higher-than-normal rent increases, and escalating home prices are putting Calgary at risk of losing its competitive advantage as one of the world’s most livable cities.
Key findings show:
- At least 84,600 or almost one in five Calgary households couldn’t afford their housing in 2021.
- The median cost to buy a detached home has increased in price by 37 per cent in the last three years.
- For Calgarians looking to buy their first detached home in 2023, an annual household income of $156,000 is required to adequately afford it.
- To adequately afford the median purchase cost of an apartment in 2023, an annual household income of $70,800 is needed for that new homebuyer.
- For those looking to rent, an annual income of $84,000 is needed to adequately afford the average market rent in 2023. That number has increased from $67,000 in 2022.
- Based on Calgary’s forecasted population growth and historical rate of housing need, the number of households in need of affordable housing is expected to reach close to 100,000 households by 2026.
Hastings told Global News this crisis was a long time coming and action needs to be taken “now”.
“I really believe the government needs to step in. There’s just no two ways about it.”
Searching for solutions
Calgary city council has planned some special meetings to address the housing crisis and possible solutions. Those will be held in the coming days.
Unfortunately, they come too little, too late for one former Calgarian.
Brittany Squires recently left the city with her children after searching for a rental — to no avail. The single mom said she was working minimum wage and just couldn’t keep up, so after running out of options, she was forced to move out of the city.
“I had been searching for two months prior to leaving the unit that I was in,” she said. “I could not find anything affordable.”
She told Global News she still hopes to come back and she’s hoping to make it feasible by sharing a space with other single moms. That’s why a few weeks ago, she launched a Facebook group called Calgary Single Mom Roommate Hub.
Squires said not only will sharing a space help with cost, it will help immensely with support.
“It’s a lifelong friendship that you’re building. and your children get to grow together,” she pointed out. “I’m a huge supporter of communal living.
“You get to feel like a person, instead of being in survival mode all the time.”
Again, the group has only been active for a short time, but Squires hopes it will grow and more importantly help solve a dire situation for many.
Hastings and McNally also hope adding to their rental family will help. They’re taking in another roommate — another client of Hastings’. That will bring in another income, which they hope will be enough. If it isn’t, they’re preparing for the worst.
“We will be — for the lack of a better word — out on the street,” Hastings said.
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