EDMONTON – Alberta’s auditor general says the province isn’t demonstrating how it’s ensuring its affordable housing is safe.
An audit tabled in the legislature found the Seniors, Community and Social Services department doesn’t have current information about the state of its 2,800 facilities worth over $2.3 billion.
It says the government also doesn’t clearly show how it prioritizes maintenance projects requested by operators of facilities representing the 27,000 affordable housing units the province is responsible for maintaining.
Auditor general Doug Wylie said without effective processes to manage the condition of provincially owned housing, vulnerable Albertans may be living in deteriorating units with potential health and safety problems.
“The demand for affordable housing is known. I think there’s an opportunity here to ensure that the housing we have is sustained well into the future,” he told The Canadian Press.
Previous ministry reports show declining housing conditions and over $1 billion in outstanding maintenance.
“If units cannot be occupied because of health or safety issues, that impacts these Albertans who should be in these units,” said Wylie.
The department used to get assessments from independent experts on the condition of its facilities, but Wylie’s report says that stopped in 2019. The government now relies mostly on information provided by housing operators.
“The government should be able to demonstrate how they’re managing the housing facilities, how they’re managing the condition of the housing facilities and how they’re ensuring that those facilities are safe,” said Wylie.
Wylie said even minor maintenance issues can lead to higher costs in the future if they’re allowed to persist.
He recommends the department maintain information about the condition of its facilities, improve its oversight and implement performance measures.
The report looks at government processes in place between April 2021 and March 2023.
Alysha Wishloff, press secretary to Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, said in a statement the recommendations line up with work already underway.
“For example, improvements made by government in 2023-24 resulted in better pricing for repair work, and faster turnaround times of vacant suites reducing from three months to one month, which means more units available for Albertans,” she wrote.
Wishloff said the government is also investing nearly $121 million over three years to maintain and repair provincially owned housing units, supporting about 4,250 units in 2024-25.
It’s now reviewing proposals to create a long-term maintenance strategy.
Wylie’s report says that in 2022-23, operators submitted more than 3,400 requests for maintenance projects totalling $333 million, but the department approved 215 projects at a total of $31 million.
Alberta Opposition NDP housing critic Janis Irwin called the auditor general’s report troubling and said she hopes it motivates the United Conservative Party government to act to address the housing crisis.
“The longevity of these projects is very much in jeopardy at a time when not only should we be investing in maintaining and upgrading our units, but there should be a whole lot of new affordable housing units being built as well — and they’re not,” said Irwin, who represents an inner-city Edmonton riding.
“Many of these folks who are living in low income units, they have no other choice. They can’t move to market housing,” she said.
Irwin added that she often hears horror stories, most often about bed bugs and temperature problems.
“It was already alarming, and now I’m even more concerned.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.
