Affordable Housing Strategy Refresh

Dynamic Education

Working with the greater community to combat NIMBY mindsets and working with landlords who may not understand cultural differences and histories of community members who would benefit the most from affordable housing. This could be included under 'diverse' or 'integrated' however this is can be a barrier unto itself which requires a greater level of nuanced conversation.

Reconciliation needs to include building capacity in the indigenous community to own and manage programs they have been systemically shutout

Reconciliation is developing capacity

Short to medium-term transitional housing/shelter.

There is an immediate need for short to medium-term transitional housing for homeless people who have no means to secure long-term housing without going through a series of phases, programming, and support. The housing first concept does not work as such individuals usually face denial from almost all housing sources. There needs to be a safe and secure place for such individuals to shelter while they go through their recovery journey.

Accountability is missing.

There is no mention of Accountability for current and future Affordable Housing to maintain or shift priorities that align with the City's strategy. Who ensures that contracts and Memorandums are maintained?

Principles are sound. Thinking on next steps in operationalizing principles. Prioritization and need based on acuity and recidivism.

Affordable Housing needs to come with support

Most people in need of affordable housing are also in need of some level of wrap around supports for simple tasks like groceries, medical appointments and complex mental health issues. Affordable Housing does not end with shelter, or else the cycle of housed, eviction, housed, eviction continues. What kind of supports are being planned for individuals accessing housing?

Multigenerational housing

As the population changes we are going to need to explore how we might shift to creating multigenerational affordable housing. We can no longer think about seniors housing versus community housing that is targeting families.

Calculate the amount of "Affordable Housing" provided by Private, for-profit, Landlords within Affordable Housing Statistics.

Historically, Affordable Housing has been a term reserved for non-profit Housing providers, but Affordable Housing is achievable and an ongoing portion of the Market Rental Housing, as observed by the annual CMHC Average Market Rent reports.

The private sector should be included in this

The private sector has market rent units that are available now and if provided some incentive or subsidy would be happy to provide further housing to those in need at affordable rents. We do much of this now through provincial subsidies and supportive programs.

How are we defining

It depends upon how affordable housing is being defined in this case. Is there a demand on developers to include a percentage of affordable housing units in everything that they build?

Partnerships

There's a lot more to housing than just a roof and walls, I think enabling tenants to have good tenancies is essential to this goal. This could include partnerships with social organizations that equip people with skills and supplies that improve wellbeing (e.g.: literacy, child care, etc).

Extend funding

More money needs to be allocated to these programs, to allow organizations to provide wrap around services to those who are experiencing homelessness or to work towards preventing homelessness

Create a Landlord Risk Mitigation Fund, to cover Court/RTDRS-awarded liabilities for Edmontonians on Income Support and AISH.

Landlord Risk Mitigation Funds cover the costs of liabilities from Low-Income Tenants, prompting Landlords to be more open to renting to low-income tenants.

System navigation/ Money allocation

I want to echo to the piece about systems navigation. RTDRS, Civida, Emergency Needs Allowance, RAB, etc. are all important and necessary but as a service provider I can barely navigate them let alone knowing that they are options. Many of these items are not necessarily in the City's control, but a hotline or something that people can call when they are at risk of being evicted etc to help navigate the systems would be an immense help, for everyone, but particularly those who have cognitive disabilities, impairments, learning disabilities or in general haven't gone to law school...Funding is going to organizations and research and realistically it needs to go to people and to direct support not middle level managers

Streamline services

It can be very difficult, as someone who works in the field to navigate the system. Often times as staff member's without facing any barriers we need to collaborate to find the best way to support an individual and meet their needs. Further often the wait times for AISH are very long, sometimes over a year. This often means that individuals cannot afford supportive housing and remain houseless until they are approved for AISH. There is also a huge gap with individuals leaving treatment centers and those who have been incarcerated.

Why is this a goal and accessibility again

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this goal, is it to spread awareness of housing need to the public? to the developers? What is the reasoning behind this? I understand empathy and awareness are good but lets just fix the problem. I also just want to add to Chris's idea as well of a database and that we include wheelchair accessible or barrier-free units and that we make a point to ensure that they are being rented to the people who need them (or just drastically increase the supply so that people can age, sustain injuries or have people who use mobility aid visit them even if they don't need barrier-free right now or permanently). Adapted/visitable units should be the rule not the exception.

Is awareness or acceptance of affordable housing the issue?

Reframe goal around awareness of the importance / value of affordable housing; or acceptance / support for affordable housing across the City

A dedicated Digital Rental Platform to advertise Affordable Housing vacancies.

The City should collaborate with all Affordable Housing providers to engage with a single digital platform to advertise, non-wait list, vacancies within the Affordable Housing sector. Thus creating an easy to access resource for the Edmonton area to ensure timely transition between vacant unit to occupied unit.

Funding model

How can we develop a sustainable funding model that will ensure that housing is not only obtained, but maintained.

Stand Out Design

It would be interesting to showcase how affordable housing doesn't need to look like low-income housing or highlight that rental subsidies in market houses are also part of affordable housing.

Catalyze the right kind of development

Prioritize (re)development in line with the City Plan - energy and cost efficient densification around nodes and corridors

Roles of the City

The roles of the city have been clearly defined.

Feedback from frontline workers

While there has been an improvement often time decisions are made and ideas implemented without, it seems, front line workers opinions being asked. As workers on the ground serving houseless individuals we are often able to provide insight that others are not privy to.

Protect existing affordable housing supply

Protect existing affordable housing supply through zoning and development policies for the retention and/or replacement of affordable housing

Incentives

The City could promote affordable housing by providing incentives to builders and operators (e.g. tax exemptions).

Split (but align) your strategies

Consider having a distinct strategy/ goals/ objectives for homelessness intervention, emergency and temporary housing vs. permanent supportive, community / RGI, near-market, mixed market. Nonetheless make sure these strategies are aligned.

ADD "Health and Wellbeing-Supporting" to the list of Guiding Principles, and Add to Goal 2 "Obj 3: Ensure health and wellbeing amenities"

The following is the feedback from the University of Alberta Housing for Health Team (led by Dr. Karen Lee, Assoc. Professor, Div. of Preventive Medicine, Dept. of Medicine) on the Affordable Housing Strategy Review focusing on what is missing: ● Guiding Principles: ○ ‘adequacy’ as a guiding principle - this will aim to meet the supply for affordable housing demand ○ Using ‘health’ in addition to wellbeing, and making “health and wellbeing-promoting” or “health and wellbeing-supporting” as a key guiding principle also, especially since a Healthy City is now a key strategic goal of City Plan ○ Under ‘collaborative’, it is not clear if the end-users are stakeholders that will be a part of the collaborative process, e.g. will indigenous peoples, other cultural groups, people with disabilities, seniors be involved in the design process of the affordable housing? ● Goal 1: People have access to affordable housing in all areas of the city ○ Incentive program - incentivize builders to offer affordable units for different housing types, including multi-family residential buildings and single family homes across the city, and to make the buildings and neighbourhoods for affordable housing inclusive of health and wellbeing-supporting strategies as part of the City Plan Healthy City Strategic Goal (for strategies, see Healthy Community Guidelines at https://www.ualberta.ca/department-of-medicine/divisions/preventive-medicine/housing-for-health/healthy-community-guidelines.html ). If a copy of the Guidelines are needed prior to formal release, please contact the UofA Housing for Health Partnership Coordinator for a preliminary copy at HforHPC@ualberta.ca. Incentives can be financial or policy-based – e.g. awarding points for selecting among affordable housing RFP proposals submitted to the City by incorporating health and wellbeing strategies and other priority strategies; fast-tracking approvals for housing developments with more health and wellbeing and other priority strategies incorporated. ○ Determine a target for number/percentage affordable housing in each residential zone ● Goal 2: People have the housing supports they need ○ Dedicated staff to fast track application for units ○ Adding Objective 3: Ensure no-cost or low-cost health and wellbeing amenities for residents are integrated into affordable housing developments ● Goal 3: People have increased awareness of housing needs and affordable housing ○ Database with available affordable units and locations that is accessible by public, along with health and wellbeing features offered ● Role of City ○ The City plays an important role in both increasing the amount and diversity (including housing types and locations) of affordable housing across the city as well as in incentivizing for higher quality of affordable housing going forward. A very important equity and health equity consideration is ensuring affordable housing developments incorporate features that support health and wellbeing of its residents who may not be able to afford financially to access these amenities separately (e.g. adult and children’s active recreation facilities, nearby active transportation amenities, nearby supermarkets and affordable farmers markets, additional healthy food access amenities like fruit and vegetable gardening areas, safe and pleasant stairwells for day-to-day active living, etc). General Considerations 1. Healthy Community Guidelines (HCG) strategies can inform the Affordable Housing strategy as part of the overall City Plan which includes Healthy City as one of its 4 Key Strategic Goals. The HCG provides evidenced-based and stakeholder-informed strategies that are comprehensive and applicable to various communities, sites and buildings including affordable housing. Multiple staff from multiple departments of the City of Edmonton including planning, urban design and seniors’ services have contributed to developing the HCG with University of Alberta H4H team and >100 partners across Canada. Examples of integration of health and wellbeing strategies directly into Affordable Housing Strategies include the Region of Peel in 2014 integrating a set of healthy guidelines and standards when they were updating their affordable housing strategy and priorities (see https://www.drkarenlee.com/resources/peel ). 2. Ensuring implementation of the Healthy City Strategic Goal of City Plan through the Affordable Housing Strategy by integrating criteria for new affordable housing development and major renovations that include environmental features supportive of health and wellbeing. The Healthy Community Guidelines (HCG) can be referenced in the Affordable Housing Strategy and in City of Edmonton future RFPs for affordable housing new construction and major renovations. Points could be awarded for integration of HCG strategies in the selection of winning proposals submitted to the City of Edmonton, along with points for other priorities like environmental sustainability, etc. Work related to new construction or major renovations of street and public amenity infrastructure, including other public sector buildings, near affordable housing developments can also use the HCG strategies to help make the neighbourhoods around existing and future Edmonton affordable housing developments more supportive of health and wellbeing. Examples of such integration include what was done in City of New York. After release of the Active Design Guidelines, New York City’s Affordable Housing RFPs integrated use of these Guidelines and its strategies into scoring criteria for selection among the proposals submitted to the City by private and non-profit partners for affordable housing development (see https://www.drkarenlee.com/resources/usa and https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/active-design-guidelines/active-design-guidelines.page ). 3. Based on the work in 3 cities in the U.S. (NYC, Atlanta and San Antonio), the document Affordable Designs for Affordable Housing may also provide additional helpful additional affordability considerations for integrating health-promoting strategies into affordable housing (see also https://www.drkarenlee.com/resources/usa and https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/active-design-guidelines/active-design-guidelines.page ).