Housing conditions a problem in urban areas

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Most of Regina's Aboriginal people face housing shortages and housing conditions little better than the substandard homes on treaty land, says a recently-released report.

More Than Bricks and Mortar: The Consequences of Poor Housing Conditions in Regina's Aboriginal Community, was prepared by the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank operated as a partnership between the University of Regina, the University of Saskatchewan, the First Nations University of Canada, and the Government of Saskatchewan.

According to the report, as many as one-third of Regina's Aboriginal population moves at least once a year in an effort to find affordable quality housing. Unfortunately, that's a search that is proving fruitless, said the report's author, Janice Stokes.

"Regina's rental market, generally, isn't adequate for most to find somewhere that's big enough and affordable enough and good enough," she said in an interview.

Housing conditions are a big reason for the poverty many Aboriginal people face when they live in the city, she added.

People generally rent rather than own their homes when they don't have enough money, don't have steady work and aren't able to obtain a mortgage to buy a home.

This means that people who rent homes are usually in a "catch-22," the report states. They can't afford anything better and don't have the economic ability-a good education or other things necessary to get a good paying job-to change those circumstances.

To illustrate that point, Stokes quoted statistics showing that nearly 70 per cent of Aboriginal people in Regina rent their housing, while just over 30 per cent own their own home. This is a reverse of the home ownership figures for all Regina residents. Overall, two-thirds of Regina's residents own their own homes, while 33 per cent rent their homes.

Forty per cent of Aboriginal people in Saskatoon and Regina who rent their homes live in substandard housing. That's defined as homes too small for a family or which are in poor condition.

Because they don't invest in their own home many Aboriginal people don't have money to invest later or to will to their children, she added. As well, the constant moving means that they fail to establish roots in their neighbourhood, further leading to a loss of identity.

The problems continue into the next generation, the report continues.

"Children in substandard housing are typically in poorer health due to homes in need of repair and the easy spread of disease in overcrowded dwellings. As a result of illness, they miss more school," the report states. Without a good home life, children find it difficult to get a good education, and with half of Regina's population under the age of 20, this creates a bleak outlook for their future.

Since the report's release, Stokes said, she's heard stories from people in Regina's inner city that confirm her study. "There are schools in the inner city where there's a student turn-over of more than 100 per cent," she said. "That means that students who start the school year in one school finish the school year in another school-and that isn't good for their education. Children need a sense of stability."

Much of the blame for Regina's current housing situation comes from Ottawa, she said.

In 1993, the federal government decided to cut all funding for social housing and in 1996 turned over the administration of social housing projects to the provinces.

While the federal government launched its Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) three years ago to provide housing to low and middle-income Canadians, the program falls short in meeting the needs of Saskatchewan's poor, especially those in the Aboriginal community, the report states.

Under the AHI, Ottawa, the provinces and municipalities are to provide matching funds up to $25,000 per housing unit (to a total grant of $50,000 a housing unit). The program has no provisions fo operational grants. Under the agreement, the federal and provincial governments will spend more than $100 million to build more than 2,000 housing units by 2008.

Meanwhile, more than 8,000 housing units-6,000 of them in the larger cities-will be needed for Saskatchewan's urban Aboriginal peoples, the provincial government said in its last study on this issue, says the report.

Under its previous programs, the federal government contributed as much as 75 per cent of the costs for social housing, but under its current plan the provincial government now pays up to two-thirds of that cost.

Because the federal government has a larger tax base to draw on than the provinces, and because the federal government is posting record surpluses while the Saskatchewan government is posting a deficit, the current cost-sharing arrangement is unfair to the Saskatchewan government, Stokes said.

If that's not bad enough, Janice Stokes added, many Aboriginal people are moving to larger cities because reserves lack education and job opportunities, and the reserves have housing problems of their own. The federal Auditor General's report in 2003 said there's a critical shortage of about 8,500 houses on Canadian reserves and 44 per cent of houses already built on reserves needed to be renovated. The federal report also criticized Indian Affairs for a lack of planning, reporting and accountability in its management of on-reserve housing.

"Housing shortages and substandard on-reserve dwellings provide another incentive for the migration of Aboriginal peoples to urban areas and, in doing so, effectively transfers housing problems from the federal government to the provincial and municipal governments," the report states.

Without a change in attitude and more money from Ottawa, the housing problem for Aboriginal people, both on and off reserve, will get worse, said Stokes.

"Between 1996 and 2001, both reserves and urban centres gained population, though the population growt was greater in the cities," she said.

Regina has the third largest percentage of Aboriginal people as part of its population, according to Statistics Canada. Of the city's 195,000 residents, about 8.3 per cent are of First Nations or Metis ancestry. Only Saskatoon and Winnipeg have a higher concentration of Aboriginal people.