“I am always renting in situations that are dependent on other people (landlords roommates, etc). If and when these people’s situations change I am forced to find a new situation. I don’t make enough money to find a secure place of my own.”
“Can’t find affordable housing for single-mom like me. Regional housing seems to be full most of the time. They don’t have any spare units for family that badly needs it especially/even if the family have a safety issue/precautions.”
“Lots of remote workers moving into the BV and outbidding us driving rental prices up and decreasing available housing to locals whose work is location dependent.”
In October and November 2020, Banff and Canmore took part in a large-scale effort to measure housing and homelessness service needs across 24 rural communities in the province. The data collected during a global pandemic can be used to identify the parts of our social safety net that need improvement.
The Rural Housing and Service Needs Estimation Project was led locally by Homeless to Housing Coalition which is an inter-agency group including Addiction and Mental Health, Job Resource Centre, Town of Banff, Town of Canmore and YWCA Banff. The province-wide project was overseen by the Rural Development Network and funded in part by Reaching Home, the Government of Canada’s official homelessness strategy.
Over a 30 day-period, service agencies invited residents to fill out a survey that asked questions about their housing situations, their employment, and the kinds of services they currently need and receive. Responses will be used to develop strategies to fill identified gaps in service for each participating community. This is the first step towards ensuring no one gets left behind in the Bow Valley.
Full report available: https://bit.ly/3v5vl6P