Page 50 - 03_April-2025

WINDOWS OF
OPPORTUNITY
Strathcona County’s new strategy opens
more paths to housing affordability
by CAROLINE BARLOTT
I
t’s a story that starts so well: A couple
grows old together in Strathcona county
over 30 years. But in their 70s, the husband
develops Alzheimer’s disease and requires
housing in a long-term care facility. The
wife has not been able to find affordable care
to allow them to stay together, and may have
to leave the county in order to get it. But that
means she’ll be away from her support network
and unable to easily visit her husband.
It becomes a heart-breaking story about
housing affordability which now affects one
in 10 homeowners and nearly two in five renters,
according to Kristen Flath, supervisor of social
policy and innovation for Strathcona county,
who helped develop the region’s Housing Afford-
ability Strategy.
Approved by Strathcona county council in
April of 2024, the strategy aims to improve
housing affordability in a county where nearly
15 per cent of households spend 30 per cent or
more of household income on shelter costs.
As of October 2023, Strathcona county’s
primary rental apartment rates (for privately
initiated rental structures) were one of the
highest in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region.
Growing inflation, decreasing income for
residents, and a lack of diverse housing options
have made it difficult for many residents to
afford housing.
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