More B.C. renters are spending 'crisis-level' amounts on housing, rental housing index finds

British Columbia hasthe highest proportion of renters spending more than half of their income on rent and utilities in Canada, according to new data released Monday.

The latest edition of the Canadian Rental Housing Index, adatabase of rental housing statisticsdeveloped by the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association(BCNPHA), in partnership with Vancity, found that 16 per cent of renters in B.C. spent more than 50 per cent of their income to cover rent and utilities, a number that puts them at an increased risk of homelessness.

Ontario and Nova Scotia were close behind with 15 and 13 per cent, respectively.

The index looked atdata from the 2021 long-form census and found a substantial surge in rental costs since the last census in 2016, says the BCNPHA. The increase over those five yearswas most acute inB.C., which saw a 30 per cent increase in average rents, and Ontario, where rents rose 27 per cent.

Nearly 250,000 of the more than 660,000 rental households in B.C. pay an "unaffordable" amount for housing, with30 per centor more of total household income going towardsrent and utilities.

Within that group, more than 100,000 are payingover 50 per cent, which is described as a "crisis-level" amount.

B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association CEO Jill Atkey says the latest numbers reflect years of failure to invest in rental housing.

"The hundreds of thousands of renters[across Canada]struggling to get by in today's crushing rental markets expect all levels of government and industry stakeholders to work together to solve this crisis," Atkey said in a statement issued Monday.

The numbers paint a similar picture to data from the2021 censusgathered by Canada's federal housing advocate.

It found B.C. ranks as the most unaffordable province for housing in Canada due largely to the number of people paying high rents to live in downtown Vancouver.

Overcrowding an issue

The B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association says its analysis is unique in its comparison of rents, incomes, overcrowding, and housing quality across demographics.

It noted that the rental crisis disproportionately affected households led by womenand/or racializedindividuals who aremore likely to face a severe affordability crunch.

The report raised concerns about the condition of existing rental stock, with seven per cent of British Columbian renters living in units in need of major repairs.

The research found11 per cent of renter households in B.C. were living in "overcrowded conditions." The highest numbers were found in Surrey at 24 per cent.

"There's really just a lack of space for people to live, and they squeeze inweird ways to make it work," said Jens von Bergmann, a Vancouver-based analyst wholooks at data around housing, demographics and transportation.

VonBergmann hasbeen collecting rental data from online listings for years. Hesaysthere was a dip in rental costsat the start of the COVID-19pandemic, but they have been rising ever since.

He says rent for a one-bedroomin Metro Vancouver isaveraging$2,200 to $2,700 depending on location.

Penny Gurstein, the co-director of the University of British Columbia's Housing Research Collaborative, told CBC last month that a "shocking lack of direction" from governments has led to a lack of purpose-built rental housing.

"It really is at a crisis level," Gurstein said. "We need all hands on deck around this."