Click here to read this report online.
Across Canada, rents are out of control.
Housing costs for tenants have become untethered from wages. Even tenants earning decent income find that adequate, affordable housing for themselves and their families is out of reach. In 2019, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives introduced the concept of the “rental wage” to Canada. The rental wage is the hourly wage required to pay rent while working a 40-hour week, 52 weeks a year, and spending no more than 30 per cent of one’s income on housing. Put simply, the rental wage is the wage people need to earn in order to pay their rent without sacrificing other basic needs.
This 2024 edition of the report presents October 2023 data for all provinces, 62 urban areas, and 787 neighbourhoods. The authors focus on average rents for two-bedroom units, which represent 49 per cent of all purpose-built rentals, and one-bedroom units, which represent 35 per cent. Along with the rental wage, it also measures rental affordability by calculateing the number of minimum-wage hours needed to pay the average monthly rent in all neighborhoods with data.
The numbers are stark. The rental wage is considerably higher than the minimum wage in every province. In 29 out of 37 census metropolitan areas (CMAs), rent for a two-bedroom unit consumed 80 or more hours of minimum-wage work.
The report also compares the latest calculations with earlier findings, showing worsening trends. In the conclusion section, we argue that efforts to increase the housing supply should be coupled with measures to strengthen rent controls, which would provide direct and immediate relief to tenant households.
