Global Evening News: Housing Shortage in Kindersley

Kindersley was the lead story on Global TV News last night (Oct 24). Here is a link to the story. The story was about the housing shortage in Kindersley and it pivoted on a couple of points:

• A local business owner lost his apartment due to the fire on Main St Monday evening.
• The government's throne speech. (I have not had time to read it though I have seen some highlights. Here is the full text)

By focusing on the families situation, there were two families and a young woman in the apartment, the reporter asked questions about how we, and the province, are addressing the shortage. It seemed her story narrative was to put pressure on the province to act on housing.

Here is the rest of the story. (Can I say that?)

• The families lost everything in the fire.
• The families have been looked after by a variety of agencies including the Red Cross, West Central Crisis Centre and the Chamber of Commerce.
• They have temporary housing in a basement suite.
• They received emergency supplies from the Red Cross.

Based on the questions Wendy asked here is what I said:

• The community has been helping the families.
• Housing is a challenge in Kindersley for a variety of reasons:
• All levels of government are involved to varying degrees:
• The Federal government with building codes and mortgages,
• The Provincial government with planning regulations and some incentives to build,
• The municipality enforces provincial and federal regulations as well as its own bylaws which are guided by the provincial and federal government.
• Erecting houses requires planning:
• Safety including fire and security,
• Parking,
• Water,
• Sanitation,
• Waste,
• Quality of life opportunities,
• Roadways,
• Greenspace, and more
• The private sector has to want to build according to regulations and what the market determines.
• Can the businesses make money?
• There are some large developers in the province who buy the land and sit on it.
• Some developers are very busy and a market like Kindersley isn't big enough to attract them at this time.
• Some developers are too busy and don't have the capacity to do the work at this time.
• The question was asked about the province and what they were doing:
• The Headstart Program is a program to provide incentives to developers and potential developers to build new homes. This is a good program.
• The Province seems very strategic in its investments but I would like to encourage them to diversify their investment into some more rural areas like ours.
• Earlier this week I learned that the Kindersley Public Housing Authority has not built new housing units in Kindersley for approximately 20 years.
• What are we doing to address the shortage?
• We have a large development that is on track to turn sod the middle of November and do earth moving over the winter.
• We have another development that we are waiting for the developer to start.
• People have developed basement suites.
• Families are sharing apartments and houses.
• People are sharing houses and apartments.

I wish there was a silver bullet to use on this problem but that is not happening. A lot is happening and quickly. We, like other communities in the region are feeling it and we are doing our best to address the issues. Like you I wish we could do this faster.