My Alberta: The Cost of Simply Living

I have been travelling, working and paying attention to Alberta.

Not just to the mountains, highways, small towns and communities that make this province beautiful.

I have been paying attention to the people.

And increasingly, I am thinking about how much it costs simply to live here.

My own lease renewal brought the issue directly into my home.

My rent is increasing. At the same time, water, which was previously included in the cost of my housing, is being moved to a separate utility bill.

On paper, there is a rent increase.

In real life, there is a rent increase plus another bill.

That distinction matters.

Because nobody lives on paper.

Everything Adds Up

This is what worries me about the affordability conversation.

We tend to look at individual increases.

Another $40.

Another $50.

Groceries went up.

Insurance went up.

Utilities went up.

Rent went up.

Gas went up.

Maybe another service that used to be included now comes separately.

Individually, some of those increases may seem manageable.

Together, they can change someone's life.

Meanwhile, a person's paycheque may barely change at all.

A wage doesn't have to decrease for someone to become poorer.

If the cost of everything required to live rises faster than your income, your purchasing power is shrinking.

You can work the same hours.

Work just as hard.

Make more dollars than you did five years ago.

And still afford less.

When Working Isn't Enough

We have built much of our understanding of society around a simple idea.

Work and you can support yourself.

I believe in work. I work.

But we need to be willing to ask what happens when that equation stops working.

What happens when someone works full time and housing takes so much of their income that groceries become difficult?

What happens when a vehicle repair goes on a credit card because there is no emergency fund?

What happens when people start choosing which bill gets paid this month?

What happens when young adults do everything we told them to do and still cannot imagine owning a home?

At some point, telling people to budget better isn't an answer.

There has to be enough money to budget.

The Road Toward Homelessness

My involvement in community, recovery housing and homelessness has changed how I see this.

Homelessness doesn't always begin on the street.

There can be a long road before someone gets there.

Someone falls behind.

Then uses credit.

Then borrows.

Then stops buying certain things.

Then misses a payment.

Then moves somewhere cheaper.

Then stays with family.

Then sleeps on someone's couch.

Then runs out of options.

By the time we see someone sleeping outside, we are often seeing the final stages of something that began much earlier.

That is why affordability matters before someone becomes homeless.

Housing policy isn't only about helping people who have already lost their homes.

It should also be about preventing people from losing them.

What Are Young Albertans Supposed to Build?

I think about young people a lot.

What does adulthood look like when rent consumes so much of your income that saving for a down payment seems impossible?

What happens when education comes with debt, housing is expensive, groceries cost more, transportation costs more and wages don't provide the purchasing power they once did?

Move out.

Pay rent.

Build credit.

Save money.

Buy a home.

Have children.

Save for retirement.

Those were once presented as ordinary milestones of adulthood.

Increasingly, they sound like financial achievements.

And that should concern us.

If an entire generation begins believing that the basic economic security their parents or grandparents expected is beyond their reach, that changes more than individual bank accounts.

It changes society.

This Is Bigger Than One Landlord

My lease renewal made me think about this, but this isn't ultimately about my landlord.

Nor can something this complicated honestly be blamed on one government, political party, corporation or policy.

There are many forces involved.

Housing supply.

Population growth.

Construction costs.

Interest rates.

Taxes.

Utilities.

Insurance.

Food prices.

Energy.

Land.

Wages.

Government policy.

Corporate decisions.

Investment.

But complexity cannot become an excuse for accepting an unsustainable outcome.

Eventually we have to look at the result.

Are working people becoming more financially secure?

Or less?

Can a young person entering the workforce reasonably build a life?

Can a single parent afford housing and still save?

Can someone survive an unexpected $1,000 expense without borrowing?

Can people working ordinary jobs afford to live in the communities where they work?

Those questions matter more to me than which political team gets blamed.

The People Who Keep Alberta Moving

The working class isn't an abstraction.

It is the truck driver hauling freight through the night.

The person serving coffee in a small Alberta town.

The grocery worker stocking shelves.

The health-care aide caring for someone's parent.

The construction worker building homes.

The restaurant worker making dinner.

The mechanic keeping vehicles running.

The cleaner arriving after everyone else has gone home.

The young person beginning their first real job.

The parent trying to make one paycheque stretch until the next.

These people are not standing outside Alberta's economy.

They are the economy.

If they cannot afford to live here, we have a problem.

My Alberta

I love Alberta.

I've been travelling through it, meeting people and listening.

I see enormous beauty here.

I see opportunity.

I see hardworking people.

I see communities worth protecting.

But loving somewhere doesn't mean pretending everything is fine.

Sometimes loving a place means asking uncomfortable questions about where it is going.

I don't want an Alberta where someone can work full time and still need a food bank.

I don't want young people deciding that owning a home or raising a family belongs to another generation.

I don't want people working themselves exhausted simply to remain in the same financial position.

And I don't want us waiting until someone is sleeping in a doorway before deciding that their housing problem matters.

Maybe we need a simpler measure of affordability.

After an ordinary Albertan works an ordinary week and pays for housing, utilities, food, transportation and the necessities of life, what is left?

Can they save?

Can they survive an emergency?

Can they build a future?

Can they help their children?

Can they enjoy some of the province they work so hard to keep running?

Can they breathe?

Because if the answer for more and more working Albertans is no, then something isn't working.

This is My Alberta.

Beautiful, complicated and full of possibility.

But increasingly expensive simply to call home.