The shortage of affordable housing extends to small communities as well as cities such as Yorkton.
While a shortage of affordable housing might be thought of as a city problem Aaron Ivey, chair of the Economic Development Committee in Ituna said his community is facing the same issue, a shortage of houses.
Ivey said the situation is one brought on by the good news the east central area is one of the "hottest economic regions in the province."
The economic situation was seen as an opportunity for Ituna.
"We didn't want to let this one pass us by," he said, as he spoke at a Regional Housing Conference held in Yorkton last Tuesday.
But to capture the opportunity you need places for people to live.
"Housing is the first important thing to economic development and business development, and we're no different housing is an issue," said Ivey.
That was not always the case. In fact Ituna had seen population dip to near 600, and houses where low valued as a result, said Ivey, noting they were renting for as little as $100 a month just to find a tenant. "A lot of houses sat empty."
With houses empty, upkeep was limited and the community showed the wear.
"Then the boom happened," said Ivey. " This issue of affordable housing was discovered."
Suddenly houses were in demand.
"We had a dramatic increase in house values Every lot was sold," said Ivey. " There was a real buzz around."
As home values rose, "it created a lot of equity in the community," said Ivey. "It began to snowball.
People started to see houses as an investment. Everybody began to take more pride in the community."
Ivey said one issue in a smaller community is gauging the exact housing situation.
"If three houses sell it's a crisis. If four come on the market we have a surplus," he said.
Ivey said the community did do a survey with 40 per cent of those sent to responding.
"It told us people cared and were engaged," he said, adding the results showed one thing clearly " really there is no easy answer. It's a huge undertaking."
