Is Rental Housing Affordable to Low-Income Households?

This research analyzes the trends in housing unaffordability directly from the supply side of the rental housing market. One-fourth of Canadian households live in housing that is unaffordable and the situation is worse for renter households.

We look at how much of the existing rental stock is affordable to households within a given:

• income class
• housing suitability

By housing suitability, we mean the required number of bedrooms given the size and the makeup of the family.

Key highlights from this Research Insight:

• Low-income households, particularly those requiring one bedroom, are the most impacted by the chronic undersupply of affordable rental housing in the country.
• Affordability rates in census metropolitan areas in the same province tend to follow similar trends. This suggests that province-level factors could be the main driver behind these trends.
• Analysis shows a negative correlation between the changes in the percentage of one-bedroom units that are affordable to the poorest Canadians and the incidence of core housing need.

We used the Rental Market Survey and the Longitudinal Administrative Databank as part of this analysis.

Author:

CMHC

Document Type:

PDF

Date Published:

February 17, 2021