Once seen as an affordable option, housing in Surrey now increasingly out of reach

Danielle Lafond says Surrey was the city she turned to for affordable housing over a decade ago. 

But now, she says she's had to give up her rental, get a roommate and is struggling to make ends meet as the price of housing skyrockets in the city.

"Help us … I'm on disability. I can't afford $1,300 a month. I had to move somebody in with me just so I can afford to live." 

Her story is far from unique in Surrey, regarded as one of the fastest-growing cities in North America by population, according to census data. In this city, the housing crisis is biting especially deep as property prices and rents skyrocket.

According to the B.C. Non-profit Housing Association in Surrey, median rents have gone up 65 per cent from October 2013 to October 2022, from about $850 a month to $1,400 a month.

Those working to support affordable housing are now calling on the city to intervene. 

Doug Tennant, the CEO of UNITI, a not-for-profit that builds supportive housing, says Surrey needs to immediately remove barriers for not-for-profit housing developers to make it easier to meet the demand for homes.

He says, currently, they're treated the same as private developers and are asked to pay development cost charges — charges that are forgiven or waived in other municipalities.

"Burnaby right now, I'm hearing, is doing fantastic work where they're contributing land, funding, just making things happen. We need to see that in Surrey and other municipalities as well."

The City of Surrey says it supports the provision of market rental units by exempting them from certain charges and cutting costs by reducing the parking requirements on multi-family rental homes.

Affordable housing, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, is defined as a cost no greater than 30 per cent of a household's pre-tax income.

B.C. Non-profit Housing Association CEO Jill Atkey says while urgent work is being done to build affordable market rental housing, it isn't enough.

"A couple of years ago, Surrey's first purpose-built rental building got developed, the first one in 40 or 50 years. And when it opened, there were 2,000 applicants for 90 units.

Since then, it's only gotten worse. As with Lafond's experience, she says stories like this paint a picture of a city where anyone experiencing homelessness or caught in the rental crunch right now will struggle.

"But there are solutions on the table, and for the first time in two generations, every level of government is paying attention to the issue," she said.

The City of Surrey's planning and development and community services departments says it has several projects on the go to address the concerns around the lack of housing.

In a statement, the city says it "has been working in partnership with the federal and provincial governments on the development of supportive and affordable housing."

As new provincial and federal government housing programs are launched, the city says it plans to be proactive in responding.

"Annually, the city delivers approximately 4,000 new homes, housing upwards of 10,000 new residents," it said.

Just how desperate is Surrey?

According to Atkey and her team, the vacancy rate in Surrey sits at 0.6 per cent, which is dangerously low. This means there isn't a lot of choice, and it is driving up rental costs. Ten years ago, the vacancy rate was just over four per cent, which Atkey says is far more healthy.

Both housing activists say there is an immediate need for 15 to 30,000 non-market rental homes. This includes social and affordable housing.

"We're building dozens a year. That's it. We need to build more, and we need to build the right type of housing," Tennant said.

When compared to Vancouver, another major city, the numbers are all too familiar.

Erika Sagert, the policy manager for the B.C. Non-profit Housing Association, says in Vancouver, rental vacancy rates were sitting at 0.9 per cent as of October 2022, and median rents had gone up 58 per cent.

However, while Surrey is in need of up to 30,000 new units, Vancouver has an immediate core housing need of at least 77,000, so, the story of desperation is not Surrey's alone.

Those supporting affordable housing initiatives are calling on Mayor Brenda Locke, as well as other big city mayors, to intervene quickly. Otherwise, they fear rising rents could send more people into homelessness.