L'Unité Facing Housing Crunch
L'Unité - Government officials are scrambling to find places to live and work as the city of L'Unité is overrun by bureaucrats and administrators. The city, chosen as the new federal capital of Jonquiere-Tadoussac in 2006, has experienced a massive population boom as a corollary of its new status.
The humble city of 100 000 nearly doubled in size during the Jontadain Civil War, when it was the headquarters of the Démocratiques faction. It has since more than doubled again since January, to nearly 545 000. The relocation of the federal government, along with most of its archives, personnel, and departments, is mostly blamed for the sudden explosion, though increasing numbers of service and construction sector jobs are pushing population numbers ever higher.
The situation has led to a near 0 percent vacancy rate, with housing prices jumping nearly 100 percent between January and April. This situation is mirrored in every town and village within a fifty-kilometre radius, as government employees snap up every available property and housing unit. Homelessness is as high as 10 percent, as rental properties raise their rent by as much as 200 percent, and previous tenants are unable to pay the new rates.
The federal and municipal governments are both taking steps to remedy the problem. The federal government is offering tax subsidies to construction companies working in the area, as well as bringing in temporary housing units for some of its employees. The municipal government, meanwhile, has converted several community centres and schools into mass dormatories, and is rezoning large amounts of land to be converted from low to high-density residential property.
The problem is duplicated in commercial space, as the federal government appropriates all available office space for its various departments. Still, offices are crowded, and only the highest ranking officials can expect to have any office to themselves. Several defunct properties are being converted into office towers for the bureaucracy, but that project is unfortunately years from completion.
Projections put the population of the city leveling off at around 600 000 towards the end of August. Adequate housing, on the other hand, isn't predicted to be available for all until the summer of 2008, and office space for all the government's various departments isn't expected until the winter of 2011.
IDUnews
The humble city of 100 000 nearly doubled in size during the Jontadain Civil War, when it was the headquarters of the Démocratiques faction. It has since more than doubled again since January, to nearly 545 000. The relocation of the federal government, along with most of its archives, personnel, and departments, is mostly blamed for the sudden explosion, though increasing numbers of service and construction sector jobs are pushing population numbers ever higher.
The situation has led to a near 0 percent vacancy rate, with housing prices jumping nearly 100 percent between January and April. This situation is mirrored in every town and village within a fifty-kilometre radius, as government employees snap up every available property and housing unit. Homelessness is as high as 10 percent, as rental properties raise their rent by as much as 200 percent, and previous tenants are unable to pay the new rates.
The federal and municipal governments are both taking steps to remedy the problem. The federal government is offering tax subsidies to construction companies working in the area, as well as bringing in temporary housing units for some of its employees. The municipal government, meanwhile, has converted several community centres and schools into mass dormatories, and is rezoning large amounts of land to be converted from low to high-density residential property.
The problem is duplicated in commercial space, as the federal government appropriates all available office space for its various departments. Still, offices are crowded, and only the highest ranking officials can expect to have any office to themselves. Several defunct properties are being converted into office towers for the bureaucracy, but that project is unfortunately years from completion.
Projections put the population of the city leveling off at around 600 000 towards the end of August. Adequate housing, on the other hand, isn't predicted to be available for all until the summer of 2008, and office space for all the government's various departments isn't expected until the winter of 2011.
IDUnews
posted by Le Jontadain at 9:04 p.m.
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