Condo growth setback for subsidized housing in central Ottawa

By Vera He, Pricilla Khan and Meredith Lauzon

The head of an affordable housing organization is worried about a lack of space for development since a condo boom rocked Centretown.

“There is not a lot of land left in Centretown,” says Ray Sullivan, executive director of Centretown Community Ottawa Corporation, a non-profit housing organization.

Centretown’s condominium and apartment growth between 2010 and 2015 has caused problems, says Sullivan. The condo boom used up all the surface parking lots that were empty gaps in the fabric of downtown, he says. The more luxury condos are built, the less space there is for subsidized housing.

Tenants of Centretown Community Ottawa Corporation and Ottawa Community Housing, which have government subsidized rent, generally pay 30 per cent of their income on housing, says Niki Kerimova, media relations and event coordinator of Ottawa Community Housing.

According to Statistics Canada, the low-income cutoff for one person is $24,600.  That means the most someone with no dependents would pay in subsidized-housing rent is $615 per month.

However, not everyone whose income is below the cut-off can have subsidized rent.

There are 10,000 families waiting for subsidized housing in Ottawa each year, according to the city.

Every time households move into affordable housing, more join the list, says Sullivan.

“As soon as we take one step forward, it feels like we are taking two steps backwards,” says Sullivan, also a board member of the Social Housing Registry.

The wait time for subsidized housing can take more than five years, according to Action Housing, a housing advocacy group.

That can leave people struggling to pay rent for apartments in downtown Ottawa. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports rent in downtown Ottawa was $1,149 on average in 2016, and $828 for a bachelor apartment.

Ottawa residents who are unable to access anything but low-end housing are at a significant risk of being homeless, says Tim Aubry, faculty research chair in Community Mental Health and Homelessness at the University of Ottawa.

The Centretown Community Ottawa Corporation is trying finding solutions for their limited space by reworking older buildings, and forming an agreement with RendezVous, the group developing LeBreton Flats, which has committed 25 per cent of their planned homes to affordable housing.