An era of affordability is coming to a close in Edmonton. In late March, the residents of Southwoods Village, in the Hazeldean neighbourhood, received some shocking mail. The new owner of the townhouse development was raising rents upwards of $500, citing a litany of overdue maintenance and upgrades required to bring the units up to “market value”. Residents have three months before their rent is raised 500 dollars. Single mothers, seniors, long term residents of the community, all are forced to pay up or move elsewhere.
The prospects that await them in the rental market are grim. As one resident put it for the CBC: “There are almost no affordable places to live anymore with the rent increases that everyone seems to be facing”.
The events in Hazeldean are another example of the deepening affordability crisis of Canadian capitalism. The history of the Southwoods townhomes captures this crisis in microcosm. The homes were built in 1960 as affordable housing with federal funds from the CMHC. Residents enjoyed subsidized rent until the nineties when the development was subdivided and sold off to private management companies. This was a direct consequence of the Mulroney administration gutting federal rent and housing subsidies, cuts which remain mostly unchanged to this day. The townhouses retain original furnaces, windows and insulation from 1960. These features, combined with warped and drafty window and door frames, have residents frequently racking up $400 heating bills. One management company neglects maintenance for thirty years, the next expects tenants to foot the bill for upgrades, neither will be held accountable.
Despite a relative abundance of cheap housing, Edmonton is not immune to the national housing crisis. The effects of an economy in which 19% of GDP is tied up in real estate speculation play out as concrete changes to workers’ living conditions. Affordable post-war neighbourhoods like Hazeldean face gentrification. While the wealthy play the market, workers are forced to leave their generational homes.
In a fortunate coincidence for the NDP, the Southwoods story broke just as Jagheet Singh was in town campaigning. Mr. Singh and local New Democrat Heather Mcpherson took the opportunity to do some door-knocking. They spoke to April, a mother of two and resident for 19 years, who painted a sharp picture: “…agree to $1845 in 3 months or move out…my job’s not changing, they’re not calling my work and saying -hey, her rent’s going up can you pay her some more-…I have to apply for low income housing now”. Jaghmeet did his best to highlight how the NDP’s platform would prevent scenarios like this, including their proposed ban for hedge funds and REITs from purchasing existing affordable housing, because, as stated in their platform: “These entities do not function like landlords…their function is to maximize revenue…”. This is Canada’s preeminent labour party making sure to clarify that not all landlords are bad as part of their policy proposal for the worst housing crisis the nation has seen in generations. They should be shouting bloody murder from the rooftops. Instead we get lukewarm tweaks: a ban here, an incentive to homebuilders there. “No more impersonal landlords!” With proposals like these it’s clear how the NDP have lost relevance. These are the solutions that are deemed acceptable within capitalism and they are not enough. The real solutions are clear: Expropriate the landlords. Public housing for all.
-Steph, Edmonton
