Winnipeggers rally urging federal government to address affordable housing
Posted October 6, 2023 9:58 am.
On Thursday, Winnipeg’s Right to Housing Coalition joined other cities across Canada in a National Day of Action for social housing.
Advocates gathered outside Liberal MP Dan Vandal’s office to call on the Federal government to address the ever growing need for affordable housing not just in our city but across the county.
Advocates like Lindsey McBain, with the Right to Housing Coalition are calling on the Feds to protect and expand the country’s supply of housing where rent costs no more than 30 per cent of the households income by adding 30 thousand new social housing units annually over the next decade starting next year. Adding the longer it takes to address this issue, will only make it worse.
“Interest rates were 2 per cent or lower for the previous 20 years we could’ve done it now. The housing crisis has gotten worse and so have the social problems that go along with that have gotten worse. It is going to be more expensive to solve this in the future, the longer we wait the more expensive these issues become,” said McBain.
Meghan Fifi, a Rapid Rehousing Case Manager at Resource Assistance for Youth says inflation has only magnified the need for safe affordable housing options, with many of the people she helps having to decide between safety and simply having a roof over their head.
“These units a lot of the time are not in safe neighborhoods, and are in a state of disrepair that people just shouldn’t have to live that way. It just puts people in a place where they are making a decision based on survival, I don’t want to be on the streets so this is better than nothing,” said Fifi.
A sentiment shared by Kat Roberts, a Housing First Case Manager with West Central Women’s resource center, who say’s their job has only gotten more difficult as the average rent of a 1-bedroom apartment in Winnipeg has risen to $1,300 more than double the $616 that the Manitoba Housing Benefit provides for those living on EIA.
“I feel like its almost impossible sometimes to find safe, adequate, affordable housing, you can really have either one or the other kind of thing,” said Roberts. “If I can find something affordable its likely not safe.”
