The council, a non-profit group that lobbies on social policy, is conducting the survey until the end of this month online at edmontonsocialplanning.ca and through the mail. It is seeking input from renters throughout the region.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council and former councillor Michael Phair co-hosted two “listening forums” a year ago to give Edmonton renters a chance to share their stories about the current rental housing crisis in the city. More than 200 people participated and shared their stories about extreme rent increases and apartment shortages, and to share their ideas on how to help solve the problem.

“At the time, the issue of sky-high rents and low vacancy rates was top of mind for many Edmontonians,” says Anette Kinley, the council’s research and communications assistant. “Since then, the issue has faded from the headlines.”

“Housing prices are starting to decline from last summer’s highs, making buying a home somewhat more affordable,” Kinley observed, “But to what extent – if any – is this trend making life easier for renters?”

The council decided to conduct the survey of Edmonton renters to find out. It asks a short series of questions, including whether the participants’ feel their rental situation has gotten better or worse, whether their rent has gone up and by how much, and whether the cost of their rent is putting a strain on their ability to meet their other basic needs.

The council took what they heard from renters last May and wrote “A Roof over their Heads,” a summary report with 13 recommendations for the city and the province.

A report on the council’s survey results will be released in June, said Kinley. “No personal information will be included in the report, only aggregated results,” she says. The survey results will help the Edmonton Social Planning Council determine what further actions it should undertake to support renters.

During last May’s listening forums, renters spoke of the difficulties rising costs and low vacancy rates are creating. The forums heard from people working full-time at low paying jobs and the extra burdens they face from rising rents and rising utility costs.

The lack of subsidized housing is a huge problem, and those eligible for it are often waiting several years for units to become available. People with disabilities are faced with paying 60 to 80 per cent of their monthly allowance just for rent, forcing them to use the food bank to stretch their budget.

Seniors on fixed incomes have no resources to cope with rising housing costs. For them, as for many others, quality of life is declining and choices have to be made between food, health care, and paying the rent.

The hot housing market has driven condominium conversions, and that takes rental housing stock out of the pool, further decreasing vacancy rates and putting upward pressure on rents. Recent immigrants are forced into substandard accommodation or into accommodation that they cannot afford, setting them up to fail with big debts and no family support system.

Tenants are afraid to ask for maintenance to their rental units because of the fear landlords might raise the rent to unaffordable levels. Some rental units no longer meet the building codes, yet many tenants are reluctant to complain to housing authorities about substandard conditions because they fear losing their homes.

After listening to the participants, the council recommended rent controls that would have held rental rate increases to the Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus two per cent, once a year. It also suggested that increases to government assistance be linked with the CPI.

Other recommendations included giving tenants whose units are being converted into condos the first right of refusal to purchase the unit; and government programs to assist low-income renters to obtain mortgages. To help alleviate poverty, the report proposed that Alberta’s minimum wage be raised to $10.00 per hour over the next two to three years and then tied to the CPI for annual increases.

Noting that it costs less to construct new buildings with barrier-free design than to renovate already constructed buildings, the report urged that resources be allocated to build affordable, accessible housing for people with disabilities and physically challenged seniors. “Assisted living costs $1,100 a month and up, and nursing homes cost even more,” the report said. “Barrier-free designed housing will allow more people to live in the community independently.”

The report also proposed attaching subsidies to the person in need, not the rental unit. And it encouraged provincial legislation that would bestow the authority on a landlord/tenant board to ensure rent increase guidelines are being enforced. “The Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS), currently running as a pilot project in Edmonton, allows landlords and tenants to resolve serious disputes outside of court.” it said. “This project needs to be expanded to other parts of Alberta.”

It urged more rigorous building inspection functions to ensure that secondary suites are properly built and maintained, and that tenants are provided with safe, clean and decently equipped suites.

The report said that affordable housing should be built throughout the city and not just concentrated in certain apartment complexes or a few low-income neighbourhoods. It proposed that a city-wide campaign based on the theme “mixed-income neighbourhoods are healthy neighbourhoods” could help change public perceptions to be more welcoming of income diversity.

In addition, it urged that multi-unit residential units incorporate 15 per cent of affordable rental units, with 10 per cent of those units being barrier free to allow people with disabilities greater choice in living arrangements and allow “aging in place.”

The Edmonton Social Planning Council’s renters survey is online at edmontonsocialplanning.ca