City council voted unanimously Nov. 16 to establish the Thompson Housing Authority, signaling it intends to get directly involved officially for the first time on an ongoing basis in affordable housing issues municipally.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) defines affordable housing as that which consumes less than 30 per cent of before-tax household income (rent or principal, interest and taxes).
The distinction between social housing and affordable housing, although the two terms are often conflated and used interchangeably, is that social housing is not self-sustaining economically and can't be supplied by the private sector with a reasonable expectation of return on investment. Without ongoing public sector support social housing is not sustainable. Another distinction between social housing and affordable housing is that social housing has entry qualifications restricting access, while affordable housing is open to all residents and is considered economically sustainable and can be supplied by the private sector either in partnership with the public sector or independently.
Monday night's vote represents a political sea change for the City of Thompson, which has historically resisted any and all appeals to establish such an authority based on municipal precedents in Brandon and Winnipeg, preferring to leave affordable housing issues to the provincial and federal governments.
The Mayor's Task Force on Housing, established by former mayor Bill Comaskey in September 2005, delivering its report in October 2006 - just before the present council was elected to a four-year term expiring in less than a year - had recommended the establishment of a local housing authority.
While historically affordable housing has been a federal and provincial issue, there has been ongoing pressure on municipal governments to become involved since the early 1960s.
In 1969 the provincial government responded to the lack of housing in the Brandon area by forming the Brandon Housing Authority. Although funded by the provincial government through the Department of Housing, the authority was operated locally, and consisted of an eight-member board drawn from the local community.
During the 1970s, land and house prices increased more rapidly than salaries, making affordability a significant factor in the home-buying process, and leading to the sudden popularity of semi-detached homes and townhouses. During the 1970s and early 1980s the Brandon Housing Authority managed the construction of 786 rental units, many of them townhouses, throughout Brandon. The City of Brandon did not play a financial role in the construction.
The Brandon Housing Authority was disbanded in May 1992 and became part of the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation. The province said at the time the organizational structure was ineffective and that it was too
costly to maintain 96 housing authorities in Manitoba.
Under the new system Manitoba Housing assumed direct responsibility for the ongoing operation of all housing stock owned by the province. These units are still in operation and rent is geared to income, with rent in 2003 established at 27 per cent of gross family income and 25 per cent of gross income for seniors.
Council was acting on a request by Marilyn Duval, former executive director of the Thompson YWCA and now president of the board of directors of the Thompson Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (TNRC), in a Nov. 10 letter, to establish the Thompson Housing Authority. Coun. Charlene Lafreniere is the executive director of TNRC. Deputy mayor Harold Smith is chair of the city's development review committee and executive director of the recently established Northern Housing Operations (NHO) branch for Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation.
Council appointed Mayor Tim Johnston and Gary Ceppetelli, the city's director of planning and community development, as the first two members of the new Thompson Housing Authority.
Johnston said he had discussions with former Minister of Family Services and Housing Gord Mackintosh about the establishment of a Thompson Housing Authority and mentioned it briefly to Kerri Irvin-Ross, who was appointed minister of housing and community development Nov. 3
