( file photo/CHATNEWSToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Affordable housing, sense of belonging, among needs identified at Vital Conversations

Jun 21, 2022 | 7:02 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB— More and more Hatters are finding affordability a struggle as inflation, and the cost of living continues to rise. That’s according to preliminary survey results presented at the 2022 Vital Conversations event.

Among the challenges of affordability is housing. 39.9 per cent of survey respondents identified the affordability and availability of rental housing as something the city needs to improve on.

Right now, the city has a vacancy rate of 2.8 percent and that’s putting people who wouldn’t normally struggle to find an affordable place to live in a state of need.

Jaime Rogers, manager of homeless and housing development at the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society says the needs of Medicine Hat have shifted over the past year and a half. Typically, the organization is focused on helping people on the street, but now she says the highest population they are serving are working individuals who may not have struggled to meet the daily cost of living.

“We are finding more working families that are needing services from us, whether that’s through housing loss prevention, or who have actually found themselves in a state of homelessness for the first time,” she said.

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According to Rogers, housing affordability is defined as spending no more than 30 per cent of one’s income on a place to live, But Rogers says given this current rental market, it is not sufficient

“Thirty per cent is not affordable by today standards. Affordability also does mean appropriateness of housing available,” Rogers said.

“If someone is receiving social benefits of some sort, $325 is not sufficient enough to rent a place. We are finding that we are having to subsidize and over supplement individuals just so they can keep a roof over their heads,” she added.

Last year the Medicine Hat Housing Strategy was completed, and the report says the city needs to build 60 new affordable rental housing units a year to meet the demand. Right now Rogers says there is a need for individual, one bedroom units as well as larger units that can accommodate families. The report also calls for the renovation of existing units to keep them up to standard, and for greater rental supplements.

The Medicine Hat Community Housing Society is busy working with the City in the hopes of developing more affordable housing units for working families and low-income individuals. Aside from that they are also looking at having a hostel housing model in place, aimed at getting people off the street and into a safer environment.

“A hostel would be for individuals who maybe wouldn’t want the commitment of a full unit, where they actually had the safety and security of a roof over there head, and a door that locked, they could have their own washroom or shared common space, as well,” explained rogers.

Aside from affordable housing, community connection and belonging was also highlighted as a pillar at Vital Conversations. The preliminary survey found a sense of belonging and inclusiveness as an area the city could improve.

Yusuf Mohammad is the director of The Connection Intercultural Association. The organization works to help newcomers to the city.

Mohammed says there is a greater need for awareness on what is going on in the city in terms of events and services. A lack of connection between neighbors, and a greater knowledge of different cultures was also noted as areas of improvement. Mohammed believes motivation is a huge factor.

“I think the biggest challenge is people having the motivation, because if they are motivated to actually reach out to people from other cultures, we would see things like being mindful and having the curiosity to go and ask about people and find out where they come from,” he said.

Accessing public transit was also emphasized in the survey data as an area that needs improvement. Mohammed says for newcomers’ transit is often critical for them to do day-to day tasks such as going to work or to get groceries.

“Accessing transportation and knowing how to access transportation is really important to them, and that is something we hear over and over again. ‘I don’t know how to get to point A to point B, and so greater awareness about public transportation, that will be something that will improve the sense of belonging for newcomers because they are able to connect and go to different places in the community,” he said.

The preliminary survey is still open for people to provide feedback. The data will be collected by the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta for their Vital Signs event this fall. It will also be used to determine grant funding awards for the year.