Core Housing Need Data — By the Numbers | CMHC

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Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corporation

CMHC has been researching and publishing data around core housing need since the 1980s.

Learn more about core housing need:

Looking for more information?

Contact your municipal housing agency or visit the National Housing Strategy for more information on housing programs in your area.

13% of Canadian households were in core housing need in 2016

27% of renters in core housing need, 91% of which were facing affordability issues.
For those who struggle with affordability, the median earning shortfall to escape affordability issues was about $2,500 in 2016.

Aboriginal households

1.4 times more often in core housing need than non-Aboriginal households.
1.5 times more likely than non-Aboriginal households to live in dwellings that are crowded.
Aboriginal households have 2 times more likely than non-Aboriginal households to live in dwellings in need of major repairs in total private households.

Women

28% of female-led households are in core housing need.
27% of female senior (65+) persons living alone (one-person households) are in core housing need, compared to 23% for male households in the same situation.

Lone-parent households with children

33% of households in core housing need, 84% of which were in core housing need for affordability reasons.
27% female-led, lone-parent family households in core housing need compared to 16% male-led family households.

Immigrant-led households

18% of immigrant-led households in core housing need, 26.6% for recent immigrant-led households.
27% of refugee-led households in core housing need, 49.0% for recent refugee-led households.

LGBTQ2+

Other Vulnerable Groups: In collaboration with Statistics Canada, we will be publishing data on housing conditions on key groups for which information was previously unavailable, starting in 2019. This includes veterans, victims of abuse living in shelters, and LGBTQ2+ people.

Persons with disabilities

Persons with disabilities aged 35 to 44 had the highest incidence of living in core housing need housing need (27%). Followed by persons with disabilities aged 15 to 24 (19%). Compared to persons without disabilities in the same age groups, the figures were 10% and 12%, respectively.

Northern housing

37% of Nunavut is in core housing need, other territories are at 15% and nationally is 13%.
67% of the Nunavut population cannot secure market housing without some sort of assistance from the government or their employer.
Iqaluit is among the most expensive housing in Canada due to logistics.

Find the most current research and learn more about how housing markets affect housing affordability and need in:

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Date Published: August 14, 2019