However, the low-cost housing stock in Vancouver for low-income singles is shrinking, not growing. The authors of this report found that SRO buildings that have traditionally housed low-income singles are closing at an alarming rate, and are not being replaced by new housing at the rate at which they are being eliminated.

Between 2003 and 2005, despite the development of 99 new housing units, Vancouver incurred a net loss of 415 housing units for low-income singles.

The rate of housing loss for this vulnerable group accelerated in 2005. While 82 new rooms for low-income singles were opened between June 2005 and June 2006, the City lost almost 400 units due to conversions, rent increases and closures during the same period.
Current plans for low-income housing paint a bleak picture.

Only 270 units for low-income singles are scheduled to be built in Vancouver over the next three years – drastically short of the quantity needed to replace what the city has lost, let alone add to the stock for this at-risk group. At the same time, the authors of the report anticipate that many existing units are in danger of closing due to rising rental rates, increased market development in the DTES, and deteriorating conditions. If current trends continue, by 2010 we will see a loss of approximately 1600 units of housing for low-income singles.

Rising rental rates

Rental rates at all levels have risen rapidly in Vancouver in recent years. However, the shelter allowance for those on basic social assistance has remained the same since 1994, at $325 per month, as has the $185 living allowance.

According to the City’s 2005 Low-income Housing Survey, the number of rooms available at $325 dropped 28 percent between 2003 and 2005. In the course of writing this report, the authors canvassed the entire list of 118 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings listed in that Survey and were able to identify only two rooms in the entire city of

Vancouver available for the welfare shelter rate of $325 per month. Over one quarter of the buildings surveyed that provided rental rates listed as “affordable housing” in the City’s Low-income Housing Survey had rents of $380 or over, making them unaffordable to people on social assistance.

Continued...

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