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In B.C. 43 per cent of households spend over 30 per cent of their income on rent and 21 spend over half of their income on rent, according to data from the 2018 Canadian Rental Housing Index.
“Traditionally, spending 30 per cent or less of household income on rent has been viewed as the benchmark of what is considered affordable,” says Jill Atkey, Acting CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association in a release. “However, the data shows that spending more than 30 per cent of income on housing has become the new normal for individuals and families in almost all areas of Canada.”
The index was released this week by the BCNPHA in partnership with housing associations, credit unions and municipal associations across the country. It uses data collected by Statistics Canada's 2016 long-form census and measures average rental costs, how rental housing spending compares with income and overcrowding in 800 cities across the country.
"It's actually kind of surprising. When we were looking at the data it wasn't the City of Vancouver that was the worst. It was Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam displaying really high levels of spending over that 50 per cent benchmark and over that 30 per cent benchmark," says Brian Clifford, policy manager with the BCNPHA.
According to the data, 27 per cent of renters in Richmond spend over 50 per cent of their household income on rent and utilities compared to 26 per cent in Coquitlam, 25 per cent in Burnaby and 23 per cent in Vancouver.
Almost half or 47 per cent of households in Coquitlam and Richmond spent over 30 per cent on rent compared to 45 per cent in Burnaby and 44 per cent in Vancouver.
The average proportion of income that households spend on rent in British Columbia is 23 per cent.
Burnaby also had the highest number of households living in overcrowded conditions at 15 per cent ahead of Richmond and Coquitlam at 14 per cent and Vancouver at 11 per cent.
"You are seeing multigenerational families and a high level of immigrants in communities like Burnaby and that does contribute to it. Also there's a lack of affordable housing in these communities. You don't see the same level of purpose-built rental in Burnaby and Coquitlam that's also why you're seeing the high level of overcrowding," says Clifford.
He says the community housing sector, municipal governments, non-profit housing providers and faith-based organizations will continue to come together to partner with the federal and provincial governments to build housing for a range of needs. "We really need to be targeting housing at what low and moderate income earners can afford because the data is showing us that incomes are very low in Metro Vancouver and also provincially."
The index will be updated again with data from the 2021 census to provide the next snapshot of the rental housing picture in Canada.
