Alberta lacks information, maintenance plan for affordable housing stock, auditor general says
CBC
The Alberta government lacks information on the true state of its affordable housing stock and lacks standards and a plan for maintaining it, according to a new report from the province's auditor general.
The fall 2024 report, tabled in the legislature Monday, found the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services no longer evaluates the urgency of a repair or an update after a previous ranking system was abandoned in 2019.
The report recommends the province compile that information and set up a maintenance plan to fix units according to need.
Patty Hayes, the assistant auditor general who examined the file, said putting off maintenance hurts the sustainability of the affordable housing program, as well as the health and safety of the people living in those units.
"If you've got leaking roofs, leaking windows, you can get mould. You can have poor heating and ventilation, especially in the wintertime," she said.
"It's got some real impacts on people if the buildings they live in have deteriorating conditions that go on for years, unaddressed."
The report recommends the province start compiling an accurate list of repairs that need to be made and set up a maintenance plan to fix affordable units according to need.
"Those affordable housing units need to be around for a long time and like our vehicles and like our own homes, we need to maintain them," said Alberta Auditor General Doug Wylie at a news conference Monday.
"They will serve Albertans much, much longer if we maintain them."
Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon was not available to comment on the auditor general's report Monday afternoon. Alysha Wilshoff, his press secretary, sent a written response to CBC News.
Wilshoff said the auditor general's findings are similar to those in an internal government review from 2022.
"Work on those recommendations was already underway at the time of the OAG review and the department is making good progress," she wrote.
Wilshoff said the government issued a request for proposals seeking someone to prepare a long-term strategy for affordable housing maintenance.
She said the government has allocated $121 million over three years to maintain and fix provincial affordable housing stock. Funding will facilitate that work in 4,250 units within the current fiscal year.
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