During the last Council meeting Council voted to approve the conversion of some rental units to condos. Kindersley has a shortage of accommodations, both for ownership and rental. In recent years our rental inventory has decreased through condominium conversion. This reduction in rental inventory affects many companies as they work to recruit and retain employees.
Not everyone can afford a home. Not everyone has money for a downpayment. If someone graduates from school and comes to Kindersley for one of their first jobs they are not likely to have money for a downpayment. I have met families who work in retail and the service industry and it is a challenge for them to scrape the money together to buy a home; they need rental units. Immigrants mostly don't have money to purchase a house. Further renting accommodations in Kindersley is not cheap. I met one gentlemen and his wife, they are a young couple, who are paying almost $2,000 to rent a two bedroom trailer.
Currently there are a number of businesses in Kindersley that own homes for their employees to live in. In one case an employee has lived in the home for a few years and can't afford to move into a rental unit of their own nor purchase a house.
Don't get me wrong: I firmly believe that owning a home is a very good thing to do. But we have to remember that not everyone can afford it. When I graduated from university I could not afford to buy a home. If we want young people to move to Kindersley we have to give them options to live here and that includes rental units to live in until they can afford to purchase a house.
If Kindersley is not careful and does not get affordable housing for purchase and rental units at a reasonable price we risk our sustainability.
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