Report Highlights “Severely Unaffordable” Rental Costs
22 per cent of renters in Barrie spend over 50 per cent of income on rent & utilities
As we get set for the spring rush in the already out-of-control Canadian housing market, a new report is shedding light on how serious our rental crisis is in this country. Taking a look nationally, nearly half of the renters in Canada are spending over 30 per cent of their income on rent and utilities. It should be noted that the 30 per cent mark is the ‘end-mark’ in affordability for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
Locally, a whopping 22 per cent of renters in Barrie spend over 50 per cent of their income on rent and utilities, while 50 per cent spend over 30 per cent to keep a roof over their heads. Both of those statistics are above the provincial average. Similar numbers are true for other urban Simcoe County areas including Orillia, Midland and Collingwood.
AFFORDABILITY
“Housing is typically considered affordable if a household spends less than 30% of its before-tax income on rent plus utilities.”
The newly released 2018 Canadian Rental Housing Index includes data on overspending and overcrowding with 18 per cent of renters in Canada spending 50 per cent of their income to pay for shelter – what Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. considers a crisis-level in spending.
Below is a heat map displaying “severely unaffordable” rental costs in red.
