Calgary's pricey rental market leaves disabled man living in RV
Phil Harnish, 61, camps in church parking lots, unable to find an affordable, wheelchair-accessible apartment
Rent prices are continuing to increase in Calgary, and that’s bad news for a 61-year-old man in a wheelchair who has been camping out in church parking lots in an RV while he looks for a permanent home.
Phil Harnish has been unable to find a place that’s both affordable and accessible, said his friend and driver Ryan Johnson.
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And the independent-minded man doesn’t fit in well at shelters, Johnson said.
“There is an element where he's sometimes rebellious to the point where he doesn't want to go into an institutionalized home. Some people might be like, "What's the matter, it’s three squares, it’s a roof over your head.’ But he's like, ‘I'd rather be in my RV, hanging out with the deer and the rabbits.’”
Johnson said camping out in church parking lots worked — for a while.
But a few nights ago someone pulled the plug, leaving Harnish with no heat.
And although he joked about waking up as Jack Frost, he said he really would prefer a warmer place to sleep.
“Yes I need a home. Yes I want a home,” said Harnish.
But in Calgary, vacant apartments are scarce and expensive, according to the fall rental market survey released this week by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC).
It found Calgary tops the country’s large centres for the most expensive average monthly rent for two-bedroom apartments in new and existing structures.
The cost of renting an average two-bedroom apartment went up almost six per cent over last year. Rent for a one-bedroom rose by more than seven per cent.
In Calgary, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,322 per month in October.
The vacancy rate has increased slightly, from just one per cent last year to 1.4 per cent in October.