Se ee a ae News __ a; tot = a TheReview Wednesday, June 6, 1990 — A3 +Rental housing market easing but prices aren't going down -_ by Mare Davis The Review More rental units are available than last year but the price of rent is higher than last year as well, Studies released just prior to a regional forum on housing comes to Sidney. The rising trend im rental hous- ing prices shows no signs of abat- ing, according to a new govern- ment survey. Rental prices in Central Saanich increased an average of 17 per cent between April of this year and Apmil last year, the Canada Mort- gage and Housing Corporation said last week. An 11.7 percent increase during the same period also took place in the town of Sidney, the study showed. A public forum commissioned & by the Capital Regional District on rental housing will be held in Sanscha Hall in Sidney starting at 7 p.m. tomorrow. 4g The vacancy rate in the Greater 2 > Victoria area (which includes Sid- ney, North and Central Saanich) has improved for renters, the report said. The rate has risen to 0.7 per cent this April from 0:2 per cent last October, as compared to a 0.6 per cent figure in April of 1989. “The rental markets in most Vancouver Island centers remain tight although some easing has occurred since the autumn of 1989,” CMHC senior market analyst Lee King said, _ “Vacancy rates are expected to. rise through the summer as newly constructed units enter the rental market.” But the increase in cost of rental accommodation is easily out- stripping the present 5.5 per cent level of inflation, King said. e@An average one-bedroom rental unit in Central Saanich was rented for $476 per month in April, as compared to $406 per month a year before. * WAGE HIKE Continued from Page Ai will be discussed at the June 18 council meeting. The issue was discussed in- camera following a discussion of . Staff salaries, she said. ~~—Until the issue is publicly before council, she said she could not comment on the proposed increase or the reasons for the proposed increase. Meanwhile, Sidney council vote themselves a slight raise in pay May 14. The mayor’s stipend increased to $13,608 per year from $12-960 while the aldermen’s stipends were increased to $4,536 from $4,320 per year, an increase of __ about five per cent. VICTORIA AIRPORT z [ aveloase RESTAURANT RE-OPENS Friday, June 8th, 90 BREAKFAST & LUNCH 7:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. DINNER 4:30 - 8:30: p.m. An average two -bedroom apart- ment in the same area rented for $580 in April 1990, as compared to $495 12 months earlier. In Sidney, an average one- bedroom rental unit fetched $520 per month in April of this year, as compared to $461 last year. The average April 1990 rent on a two-bedroom unit was $611, which is up from $554 a year previously. George Lawrie, coastal regional manager of the B.C. Housing Man- _ agement Commission, said the increase in rental accommodation prices is a response to the short- ages in tental units that started in Greater Victoria about two-and-a- half years ago as more people moved here. “The economy is still relatively strong, leading to continued migra- tion to the province, though I think it has now begun to ease,” he said. There are also seasonal changes that are contributing to the slack- ening in the rental accommodation market, he added. “For instance, university stu- dents are easing up the rental TENT IS ERECTED in between a picnic table and the parking lot in Tulista Park by a Sidney woman who wants fo get into governemin subsidized housing. TENT market since many tend to leave in the spring and re-enter the rental market here again in the fall,” he said. Another major factor could be the slump in housing sales, Lawrie said. “I suspect a lot of developers are putting units up for rent until they feel it’s time to put their houses and condos back on the market,” he said. However, affordability, rather than availability, is the biggest problem facing renters, Lawrie said. “Affordability is a real problem right now, especially for people who are spending more than 35 per cent of their income on rent. “Though there are now more vacant apartments in Greater Vic- toria, it doesn’t mean they are all being snapped up. A lot of people just can’t afford them,” he said. Rental accommodation figures for North Saanich are not available since the rental market in this municipality is negligible, a CMHC spokesman said. Continued from Page Al Tidman said he offered to put Niblett up in a motel for a month, offered to help her move and saved a suite for her in a neighboring apartment building. “TY don’t know what else we could have done for her,” he said. He said he couldn’t guarantee that rents wouldn’t be increased at the other apartment building because of rising interest rates. “We don’t make any more profit when they go from 11-and-a-half to 14-and-a-half per cent.” cs ee — ICAL SINCE 1949 The — _ Trusted Name for “Eye Glasses and Contact Lenses ‘MAYCOCK OPT ICAL ~ DOWNTOWN 1327 Broad St. at Johnson 384-4175 SIDNEY 104-2376 Bevan Ave. Sidney Centre — 655-1122 Early morning raid gets two A Friday morning raid on a home near Resthaven Drive and Ardwell Avenue resulted in the arrest of two Sidney man wanted by Esquimalt police for assault with a weapon charges, police said. “We certainly caught them sleeping,” said Sidney RCMP Sgt. Andy Rosequist. Police were exercising four war- rants issued for the arrest of men wanted in connection to an assault of a 21-year-old Victoria man in an Esquimalt home May 13, Esquimalt deputy police Chief Bill Wyatt said. Taken into custody by two pairs of policemen were Michael On, 22, and Lyndon Yalan, 19. Anoth- er man, Russ Faulkner, turned himself in to police later Friday. One warrant remains outstand- ing, for the arrest of Travis Brad- shaw, a Sidney man also wanted as part of the investigation, police said. Wyatt said the warrants were issued following an Esquimalt police investigation into an inci- dent at a house party on Lampson Street, about 12 midnight May 13. Apparently five men entered the house and assaulted a male party- goer with a baseball bat. The man was taken to hospital and released following treatment. Crown counsel recommended that charges of assault causing bodily harm with a weapon be laid. 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