P.E.I. will see more action on housing 'once the snow's gone,' says minister
CBC
A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report showing a big drop in P.E.I.'s apartment vacancy rate is concerning but not surprising, says provincial Housing Minister Matthew MacKay.
The overall unit vacancy rate fell from 1.5 per cent in October 2021 to 0.8 per cent this past October.
"I knew these numbers were going to be where they were, so I wasn't surprised by it at all," said MacKay, citing the Island's population growth, and particularly the number of people who moved to Prince Edward Island from other provinces over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This isn't something that we waited for," he said. "We knew these numbers were going to be there."
At the centre of P.E.I.'s housing crisis are a population growing faster than planned and a construction industry that can't keep up with the need for new housing.
The province has responded by offering developers loans with a two-per-cent interest rate, and is working to create hundreds of new apartments using modular buildings that can be put together quickly. An example is already in place at 203 Fitzroy St. in Charlottetown.
That latter project has a budget to build 456 units of its own in the next 18 months.
"You're going to see a significant amount of building starts once the snow's gone and the permits are improved and so on with the initiatives that we're doing. I'm quite confident you're going to see those numbers change," said MacKay.
He did add that it is going to take time.
"This has been a problem that has been 25 years in the making and now it needs to be addressed.
"It should have been addressed ages ago. I'm the person in the chair right now that's got the steering of the ship and it's going to be a challenge. But I'm quite confident with all the initiatives that we've got going."
The new building plans should lead to the apartment vacancy rate rising next year, MacKay said. He wants to reach a target four per cent vacancy rate within a couple of years.
MacKay estimates the province is currently short about 1,500 units. The government made moves to rectify this shortage in the fall capital budget, he said, but it is going to take time for those new programs to have an impact.
That 1,500-unit deficit is a conservative estimate of the housing that is needed, said housing policy researcher Matt Pelletier.
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