Regina housing summit eyes affordability

Affordable housing and cheaper rents were the focus of a one day housing summit in Regina today.

This was the second year for the Mayor's Housing Summit, an initiative of Michael Fougere who said the city needed to tackle a low vacancy rate, because many people were having trouble finding a place to live.

"We already have seen there's an oversupply of housing in the city of Regina so that's changing the affordability of houses," Fougere told reporters at Tuesday's summit. "That will trickle down to the lower end of that and certainly for vacancy rates and for rental rates, those will change over time as well."

Fougere added that affordability, especially in the rental market, continues to be an issue in Regina.

He also noted that the city's vacancy rate has improved. It is currently 2.5 per cent, Fougere said, compared to 0.6 per cent less than two years ago.

He said the city is aiming for a vacancy rate of three per cent, by 2017.

"That's one of our benchmarks for success," Fougere said. "[It's] not the only thing, but if we get to that level before 2017 or at 2017, we're successful."