British Columbia now has the highest share of renters spending more than half of their income on rent and utilities in Canada.
That’s according to a new study highlighting the struggle to keep up with the province’s ballooning cost of living.
The Canadian Rental Housing Index has released its latest findings, revealing a staggering increase in rental costs.
Between 2016 and 2021, the largest increases in average rents in Canada were in British Columbia, which saw a 30 per cent jump
Sixteen per cent of renters in the province are using more than half their income to pay for rent and utilities each month, which the index considers a crisis level of spending.
Eleven per cent of B.C. renters are also living in “overcrowded conditions,” representing an increase of about 20 per cent over five years.
The situation is worse in Surrey, where 24 per cent of renters are living in cramped quarters.
Housing advocates say the latest data shows a collective failure of rental housing investments over the last quarter century.
“The hundreds of thousands of renters 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,” said Jill Atkey, CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association.
In April, the province released its so-called Homes for People plan, including a $4-billion investment over three years and $12 billion over a decade.
It aims to increase density, deliver supportive housing, change zoning to make basement suites legal across the province and crackdown on house flippers.
With files from CTV News Vancouver