Well-being of people in Waterloo region tied to how much they pay for housing: Report

The numbers in a new report looking at affordable housing in Waterloo really "seem a little dark and they seem hard to absorb," the president and CEO of the Waterloo Region Community Foundation admits.

"The scale of the issues that we were facing was shocking to me," Eric Avner told CBC News about the Vital Signs report released by the foundation on Thursday.

"I knew that we had a housing crisis. I knew that Canada had a housing crisis. The level of disparities in affordability, in production, in the scale of things surprised me more than anything else."

Vital Signs is a national program that looks at community data to better understand issues and experiences of people in an area.

The 65-page report for Waterloo region is compiled from different data sources including Statistics Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, academic and media reports as well as conversations with groups in the community. It looks at various aspects of affordable housing in Waterloo region including cost, attainability, sense of community and what is being done to address the housing crisis locally.

Some of the statistics noted in the report:

• Waterloo region grew twice as fast as Canada as a whole between 2021 and 2022 (3.8 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent).
• The average price of a rental in the region jumped from $774 in 2005 to $1,864 in 2022, a 141 per cent increase.
• The vacancy rate for units affordable to the bottom 20 per cent of renters in the region was zero per cent in 2022.
• As of late spring 2023, more than 528 individuals with most urgent needs (chronic homelessness, addiction or physical challenges) were on the region's prioritized access to housing support list.
• That prioritized access to housing support list has grown at a rate of 30 per cent year-over-year since 2015.

The province has told the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo to build 700,000 homes by 2031. That's "an ambitious target" but even if reached, the report notes, "would not provide enough houses even if met unless population growth slows considerably from 2022 levels."

Steve Ayer, president and founder at Common Good Strategies Consulting in Kitchener which worked on the report, said for him, the most shocking numbers were just how much home prices have grown in the region compared to income.

"It really is stunning to look back [at] 2005 and see $200,000 as the typical price to pay for a home," he said.

Ayer also noted the rapid growth in the region is a challenge. 

"We just can't build enough homes fast enough to accommodate everyone who's been moving into the region," he said.

Housing and well-being

The Vital Signs report notes the direct correlation between housing and well-being. 

Some of the highlights mentioned:

• 58 per cent of people in Waterloo region who were surveyed said they had a high sense of belonging in the community. That was below the Canadian average of 65 per cent.
• 67 per cent of people in Waterloo region ranked their satisfaction with their neighbourhood as high. That was below the Canadian average of 72 per cent.
• People who rent were less likely to say they were satisfied with their neighbourhood compared to homeowners (54 per cent compared to 76 per cent).
• Satisfaction scores from people living in high-rise buildings were not worse than people in mid-rise buildings and in some cases, such as neigbourhood and dwelling satisfaction, high-rises scored better.

The report says that as the region responds to the growing need for housing, "we have an opportunity and obligation to also build space for more community, more connectivity and more joy."

In the report, the region's manager of housing policy and homelessness prevention Chris McEvoy is quoted as saying housing is one of the fundamental social determinants of health.

"Without it, you can't settle, you often can't work and you often can't feel like you belong," McEvoy is quoted as saying. "We need a community where everyone has affordable housing and access to other community services to ensure that people feel like they can settle, work and belong."

'Passionate people' working on issue

Avner says he knows the report might seem heavy.

"The numbers themselves seem a little dark and they seem hard to absorb at the scale of this issue," he said. "But the good news is that there's so many different options of ways that we can solve this and there's so many really smart and passionate people working on it."

When asked who he wants to read the report, he said everyone should so they can understand the problem facing the region.

"The more people that can see this, the more people that can absorb it and read it and … find pieces of it that are compelling," Avner said, noting then people may want to get involved in helping to find solutions.

Ayer agreed "it is dark" and "there's a lot of challenging findings ... but I think it's really critical that everyone understands the scale of the problem we're facing."

But he sees the report as a good place to start.

"Things in many ways, if we don't make real change right now, are in a position where they can get a lot worse and so now is our time to actually take opportunity to fix it."

The full report can be accessed through the Waterloo Region Community Foundation's website.

Give me shelter: The hunt for housing in Waterloo region is a series by CBC Kitchener-Waterloo that hears from the people struggling to secure the housing they want and need. They might be making do with non-traditional housing: a tent, a room shared with multiple people or their parents' basement. We look at how the basic need for housing is not being met for many people in a rapidly growing region of Ontario.