P.E.I. has to 'be careful' with housing solutions, says minister

The P.E.I. wait-list for provincial housing is "a little over 1,000," but Ernie Hudson, minister of housing, says the province is trying to lower that number.

Recent housing announcements, along with expected upcoming projects to be announced in the next three months, will add 400 new housing units on P.E.I., Hudson said.

"Right now we have an excess of 800 rental supplements. You look a year ago, the total number of rent supplements was in the range of, as I understand it — 200 to 250," Hudson said.

During the provincial election campaign, the PCs promised to tackle the housing issue, but that is a tall order with the Charlottetown vacancy rate measured at 0.2 per cent in the fall of 2018 and house prices rising rapidly.

That's just one of the issues. The province is also dealing with a lack of affordable housing, an influx of short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, and skyrocketing prices in Charlottetown.

Affordability

Hudson said the province is making progress but, "at the same time with making progress, we do see that the demand for a number of reasons, various factors, is increasing."

Hudson said a lot of the housing issues in the province, especially in Charlottetown, are due to an increase in population.

"It's great to see the population — fantastic to see it grow. It has the positive economic implications for businesses right across the board, but with that obviously it does pose some challenges," he said.

House prices in Charlottetown rose 38.5 per cent over the last three years. Hudson said if you are in a position to sell a home, that number may be attractive.

"From the other side and I certainly see it makes the affordability aspect of it — it's a real challenge," Hudson said.

Short-term rentals

However, he said other aspects other than affordability need to be taken into account before the housing situation can get better. One of those other factors is suitability, Hudson said.

"If you have a family of five in a one-bedroom apartment is that suitable? No, it is not.' Hudson said.

In regards to regulating short-term rentals, Hudson said he has met with the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities and mayors across the province.

"The sooner that we can see policies in place to address this, the better," Hudson said. But he said he isn't going to dictate to municipalities to have bylaws in place by a certain date.

He said one of the concerns in regulating short-term rentals is that it may negatively affect the tourism industry, but not regulating short-term rentals has had an impact on housing.

"We have to be careful when we come up with solutions. Two problems, two challenges we have — that we do it right and not do it in a knee-jerk reaction," Hudson said.

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