Voters in Canada’s 4 million renter households have a new tool they can use to grill candidates on affordable housing in October’s federal election. It consists of an interactive online map developed by a partnership of non-profit housing organizations and credit unions which tracks renter income, affordability and overcrowding for the first time in more than 800 cities and regions across the country and in all 338 federal ridings.
http://rentalhousingindex.ca/
The Canadian Rental Housing Index is calling attention to the plight of tenants in Canada. According to the website:
40 per cent of renter households are paying more than 30 per cent of their before-tax income on rent and utilities, an amount widely considered to be unaffordable.
An alarming one in five households is paying more than half of their income on rent, a situation that puts them at risk of homelessness, say affordable housing advocates.
More than 10 per cent of rental households are living in overcrowded conditions such as sharing a house or apartment with other families or renting a smaller unit than needed.