The share of households living in unaffordable housing defined as spending 30% or more of their income on shelter costs was 22.0% in 2022, virtually the same as it was in 2018 (21.5%), before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, renters (33.0%) were more than twice as likely to spend 30% or more of their income on shelter costs than owners (16.1%), a gap that has persisted over time.

In 2022, households living in social and affordable housing were less likely to be living in unaffordable housing compared with 2018. The average monthly rent paid by households living in social and affordable housing was $695 in 2022, a 12.4% increase from 2018. This smaller rise in rent compared with income growth (+15.3%) allowed more households living in social and affordable housing to keep their spending on housing under 30% of their income. In 2022, 25.4% of households living in social and affordable housing spent 30% or more of their income on housing, down 4.0 percentage points from 2018 (29.4%).

Housing affordability had previously improved in 2021, as a result of the temporary income boost provided by pandemic-related government benefits.

These results come from the 2022 cycle of the Canadian Housing Survey, undertaken as a collaboration between Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. This survey was conducted from November 2022 to March 2023.

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