Talk to any Canadian house hunting in the past year and a half, and you’ll hear the same frustrations: inflated prices, bidding wars, and even fixer-uppers selling for far over the asking price. Stories of six-figure earners giving up on buying a house until the market has cooled are not uncommon.
It’s unfathomable, it seems, to be expected to live in anything other than a single-detached home with a yard, driveway, and white picket fence. Yet, millions of Canadians do. About one-third of Canadian households rent.
Apartment buildings put more people in the same footprint, contributing to the urban density city planners love. Renting doesn’t require a large down payment, and tenants don’t need to worry about property taxes. In some countries like Germany and Switzerland, most people rent their entire lives quite happily.
So why are Canadians so desperate to ditch their leases and snag their own slice of land? It’s because governments don’t invest in things that make life good for renters — in fact, they actively make it worse.
Making renting an attractive option can cool the housing market, but it requires policy.
Canada’s Housing Crisis
Until 1994, Canada had a federal social housing program that built over 5,000 affordable units a year across the country. Ever since the federal government passed this responsibility to the provinces, developers have built whatever they can to make the most money from (read: luxury condos and single-detached homes).
Canada recognizes housing as a human right but lacks a concrete plan to ensure Canadians have access to it. Without mandated affordable housing, renters and homeowners alike will continue to be gouged.
Provincial Problems
In some provinces, there’s no limit to how much a landlord can increase rent year to year. In other provinces with limits, special clauses allow landlords to sidestep the rules anyway. One such clause is known informally as “renoviction.” Renovating a rental unit allows landlords to apply for a rent increase greater than the annual limit, leaving many people priced out of the buildings they’ve called home for years.
This uncertainty prevents renters from having the peace of mind they would get in an owned home. The looming possibility of a big rent increase prevents people from settling into their neighbourhoods and building their lives there. Renters need stronger protections and consistency when it comes to rent increases.
Another area that lacks policy is pest and building management. None of the provinces require landlords to disclose an apartment’s bed bug or pest status to renters. Tenants have few options if they’ve signed a lease on an infested apartment and may even be on the hook for extermination fees if they’re unable to prove they didn’t cause the infestation. With little incentive for landlords to deal with problems quickly and efficiently, the buildings are allowed to deteriorate.
Municipal Level Problems
Although cities may not be directly in charge of housing policy, they can still make life difficult for renters. Without proper infrastructure, living in multi-unit buildings can be inconvenient and not a long-term option for families.
Apartment-dwellers, like homeowners, want access to outdoor space, storage, room to garden, and playgrounds for their children. City planners should be looking at making the areas around new apartments convenient and liveable.
Of course, this is not the only driving force behind the housing crisis — there simply aren’t enough houses or apartments to go around. Building more apartments than houses will house people faster, but the key is building them to be long-term options by keeping them affordable for people of all incomes.
Think of all the factors potential buyers consider when deciding on a house. Shouldn’t renters get to make choices about where they live, too? Both owning and renting can offer good quality of life, but the latter seems to be missing from the Canadian housing conversation. After all, it’s never just about the house; it’s about the type of life the house enables.