High rents, low vacancy and the new urgency to address London's housing affordability

An apartment unit vacated by one tenant in Londoncan often goback on the market with a30 per cent increase in rent.

It's an anecdote shared by Sandra DatarsBere, who heads the city's housing and social services department. She was one of dozens of experts and stakeholders who gathered in London yesterday under thetitle "building housing solutions together."

The word "solutions" in the title suggests a problem. In this case, it's arental market with a vacancy rate of less than two per cent. The higher prices are putting a bite in the budgets of thousands of Londoners, particularly those who aren't seeing any matching rise in wages.

"Part of the problem is that the market can bear it because there's such a demand,"said DatarsBere."The problem is when the rents at the lower end of the market go up, it really eliminates opportunities for people who are looking for that lower-market rent and they can't afford the higher-market rent. It creates additional pressure for those individuals and families."

She said the wait list for rental units geared to income in London adds more names each month. Those already on the list can wait years for a unit.

"The housing stock availability is not meeting our needs," she said. "And the need for our community is significant."

Stephen Giustizia heads London's Housing Development Corporation, the city agency tasked with adding tothe supply of affordable housing. Earlier this year, he took CBCLondon on a tour of some of the HDC-backed projects that are adding to the rental stock. Many involve partnerships between the city and developers, with incentives that lead to more affordable units.

• London challenged to deliver affordable housing

Giustizia says people who work in London's service industrieseverything from mechanics to hairdressersare really feeling the squeeze.

"The affordability of housing for them is being lost as it moves out of the affordable range," he said. He said coffee shops in areas outside London that have few apartment units he citesDorchesterand Komokaas examples are in some cases relying on employees who drive in fromtwo towns over.

Giustizia said he's seeing more co-operationfrom various levels of government to tackle the problem.

"There's a complete change in the language," he said. "Where you're not talking about different kinds of housing but you're talking aboutthe affordability of living. You're hearing talk about how do we create sustainable housing for everyone."

When it comes to finding solutions, one of the speakers who drew the most attentionwas Judith Binder of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

That's because last year, the federal government announced the creation of Canada's first national housing strategy. The initiative came with a $40-billion budget and a goal of creating 100,000 new affordable housing units country-wide.

CMHCwill deliver several of the programs included in the housing strategy. But as Binder points out, many of the projects are collaborations between public and private groups and different levels of government.

"At events today, we've heard examples of groups that have made applications to create bricks and mortar buildings that will hopefully, within the next two years,result in a place that they will be able to call home," she said.