Unaffordability and lack of housing among top systemic issues reported across Canada

July 5, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario – Office of the Federal Housing Advocate

New data released today in the Federal Housing Advocate’s 2022–2023 Annual Report illustrates that unaffordability and a lack of housing options were the top systemic housing issues reported by people across Canada.

This Annual Report provides the first comprehensive look at the scope of submissions the Federal Housing Advocate received over the past year through a new online public submission process. The submission tool allows people from across Canada to report directly to the Advocate about systemic issues of inadequate housing and homelessness.

Over the past year, unaffordable housing was cited as an issue in 77% of the public submissions, while 61% of the submissions spoke of problems with finding housing. Many submissions in these categories described having to make significant sacrifices and forgo basic needs in order to afford rent.

More than half (57%) of the submissions were from households that include a member who identifies as a person with a disability. These households face increased barriers to finding suitable housing for their disabilities and face increased discrimination when looking for housing.

Of the 37% of submissions from individuals who reported experiencing issues with their landlord or building manager, women and gender diverse people were particularly affected by abusive situations. This included being charged illegal fees and rent increases, their landlord entering the apartment without permission, or facing harassment and sexual harassment.

In many submissions, the Advocate also heard about people living in unsuitable rental housing, and how housing choice is limited due to a lack of affordable rental stock and rapidly rising rents. Some mentioned that the scarcity of affordable housing enables discrimination against renters in their housing search. In all, 30% of people who submitted said they had been evicted or forced to move – in more than half of cases (54%) these were “no-fault” evictions initiated by the landlord for their own use, renovation, or sale of the property.

One in three individuals submitted that they have been experiencing issues with wait lists for social housing or shelters. Endless wait lists are a testament to the lack of housing that is affordable and suitable for low-income households. This shortage fuels the overcrowding of transitional housing and shelters. The Advocate heard that the inaccessibility of shelter spaces is driving many people to live in tents or makeshift dwellings for places to stay and to sleep. Half of the individuals who made a submission experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Meanwhile, the Advocate received many submissions from organizations that echo the concerns raised in individual submissions, including housing being unsuitable for people with disabilities, the systemic housing issues facing women and gender diverse people, a lack of protections for tenant rights, and violations of the right to housing for Indigenous Peoples.

This data paints a clear picture of a lack of affordable, accessible housing in Canada, the need for better tenant protections, and the need for increased supports for people experiencing precarious housing and homelessness.

Among the Advocate’s recommendations in her 2022–2023 Annual Report are ways that governments can act to ensure better access to housing for all, including measures to curb financialization, increase the supply of social housing, and dramatically revise the National Housing Strategy so that it delivers on the goal of advancing the right to adequate housing.

Governments at all levels must listen to the lived experience of people throughout Canada who spoke out on this issue, and take real action to ensure the right to housing for all.

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Quick facts

  • Unaffordable housing was cited as an issue in 77% of submissions, while 61% of submissions spoke of problems with finding housing.
  • More than half (57%) of submissions were from households that include a member who identifies as a person with a disability.
  • Of the 37% of individual submitters who reported experiencing issues with their landlord or building manager, women and gender diverse people were particularly affected by abusive situations.
  • 30% of people who submitted said they had been evicted or forced to move – in more than half of cases (54%) these were “no-fault” evictions initiated by the landlord for their own use, renovation, or sale of the property.
  • One in three individuals submitted that they have been experiencing issues with wait lists for housing or shelters.
  • Half of the individuals who made a submission experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.
  • The data in this section is based only on the submissions we received. The numbers do not represent a complete statistical picture of all housing or homelessness issues in Canada. These figures are also not representative of the total occurrences of these experiences in the general population.

Related links

Background

  • Submissions are a critical way for the Advocate to hear directly about systemic housing issues in Canada. The Advocate does not intervene in individual cases. Instead, the Advocate will use these submissions to raise awareness on the most common and critical housing issues people are facing, make recommendations to improve Canada’s housing laws, policies and programs, and drive change on systemic housing issues.
  • In May 2022, we launched our public submission tool and process so that individuals as well as organizations can submit relevant information directly to the Advocate. Submissions can be made using an online tool that we built and tested with feedback from over 30 different community organizations, stakeholders and people with lived experience.
  • Submissions are a key part of how the Advocate identifies systemic housing issues to review or refer to a review panel.

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