The share of households living in unaffordable housing has been left virtually the same as before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new national survey data, indicating that four years of government policies had little impact on affordability.
The most recent Canadian Housing Survey, released Tuesday, shows that 22 per cent of households lived in unaffordable housing in 2022.
This is defined as spending at least 30 per cent of total before-tax income on shelter costs. In 2018, 21.5 per cent of households lived in unaffordable housing, suggesting that four years of government action barely moved the needle.
The latest survey data comes from the 2022 results of the Canadian Housing Survey, a collaboration between Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. This survey was conducted from November 2022 to March 2023.
There was a transitory increase in affordability during the pandemic due to the temporary income boost provided by pandemic-related benefits, but this reprieve was short-lived. Overall, shelter costs increased nationally by 20.6 per cent from 2018 to 2022, the survey found.
Renters had it worse than owners. Renters were more than twice as likely to spend 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter costs than owners – “a gap that has persisted over time,” StatsCan said in its Sept. 10 summary of the survey.
Predictably, dissatisfaction with housing affordability grew. According to the data, 14.5 per cent of households were dissatisfied with the affordability of their housing in 2022, an increase from 11.1 per cent in 2018. Renters (20.8 per cent) were more likely to be dissatisfied than owners (11.2 per cent), and new renters (34.3 per cent) were especially likely to be dissatisfied. New renters were defined as those who moved into their dwelling in the previous two-year period.
Other components of the Consumer Price Index rose over the same time period, such as gasoline (up 34 per cent from 2018) and food (up 22.7 per cent). As a result, “close to one-third (30.9 per cent) of households found it difficult to make ends meet [in 2022], up from just over one-fifth (21.9 per cent) in 2018,” StatsCan noted.
The Canadian Housing Survey also examined subgroups like first-time homebuyers and those living in or seeking non-market rental housing.
Regarding first-time homebuyers, the survey found that they are taking on larger mortgages and were more dissatisfied with affordability in 2022 than the same cohort was in 2018.
Regarding non-market rental housing, about 245,900 households reported being on a waitlist for subsidized housing in 2022, close to two-thirds (153,800) of whom had been waiting for two years or longer, said StatsCan.
Going forward, affordability could worsen as 2.2 million households renew their mortgages in 2024 and 2025, accounting for 45 per cent of all outstanding mortgages. “This increase in mortgage costs will squeeze households' budgets and savings further, particularly for those that took on large amounts of mortgage debt when the cost of borrowing was low,” said StatsCan.
The next cycle of the Canadian Housing Survey, for the year 2024, will begin on Oct. 28.
