Persons with Disabilities: 15% Live in Core Housing Need

About 3.8 million Canadians aged 15 or older reported having a disability on the 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability. That is nearly 14% of the population in that age group. CMHC prepared a Research Insight on the housing conditions of persons with disabilities using data from the Survey. The report identified that persons with disabilities were 60% more likely of being in core housing need compared to persons without disabilities.

Other key findings:

General

• In 2012, 549,500 persons with disabilities (or 15.3%) were living in households in core housing need. For persons without disabilities, the number was 2,082,700 (or 9.2%).
• Of persons with disabilities living in subsidized housing, 42.3% were in core housing need compared to 34.1% of persons without disabilities living in the same type of housing.

Geography

• Prince Edward Island had the lowest incidence of core housing need for persons with disabilities (11.0%). Nunavut had the highest (41.9%).

Housing tenure

• The incidence of core housing need for persons with disabilities living in owner households was 7.5%. This was much lower than for those living in renter households (34.2%).

Age

• Persons with disabilities aged 35 to 44 had the highest incidence of living in households in core housing need (26.6%). They were followed by persons with disabilities aged 15 to 24 (19.0%).
• For persons without disabilities in the same age groups, the figures were 9.6% and 11.7%, respectively. The lowest incidence of core housing need (10.8%) was seen among persons with disabilities aged 65 to 74.

Sex

• Women with a disability were more likely to live in a household in core housing need than men with a disability. About 16.9% of females with disabilities lived in households in core housing need. For males with a disability, the figure was 13.2%.

Type of disability

• Disabilities related to pain, flexibility and mobility were the most common. This was true regardless of the core housing need status.
• For all disabilities, except hearing disabilities, prevalence was higher among persons in core housing need than those who weren’t.