City Council received the Poverty Action Report yesterday and says housing is one of the biggest areas of concern.
The cost of housing in Port Alberni jumped by more than 50% last year, while the region has lower than average wages.
Mayor Sharie Minions said the city has donated land and reduced development cost charges for affordable housing, and has worked closely with BC Housing to encourage more projects.
“We’ve worked really hard to have a great relationship with BC Housing and we’ve felt that that has brought a lot of dollars into our community in order to break down what is the biggest barrier for people living in poverty and that is housing in the community,” she said. “We’re very proud of the work we’ve done on housing but the Poverty Action Report highlights more opportinities that our concil will be looking at in the future.”
The Alberni – Clayoquot Health Network is recommending City Council join calls for a National Housing Strategy.
Mayor Minions says the city has been pushing for more help from the federal government for years.
“We would love to see more federal funding and we have been regularly advocating alongside our MP Gord Johns for federal funding,” she said. “We are very fortunate to have a fantastic partner in the provincial government contributing to many different housing projects, but we would like to see more federal dollars coming into the community for housing, and we know Gord feels the same way.”
She said support for affordable housing will be a focus of her upcoming trip to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Regina along with councillor Deb Haggard.
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