Let’s be honest—we’ve had a long stretch of beautiful weather this fall. Wouldn’t you agree? We’ve seen people outside doing sports or recreational activities, not only because it gives them a brief respite from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because they’re very aware of the cold and harsh winter weather that will soon be on their doorstep. They’re making the most of it before the first snowfall, and it’s so good for morale!
Winter has its own challenges, including the cost of heating our homes. It will be quite cold some days, so the heating bill will inevitably be higher. And let’s spare a thought for the people in British Columbia living through an emergency situation because of the recent heavy rains.
A household is said to have affordable housing when it spends less than 30% of its total income on housing costs, which include electricity, heating, water and other municipal services.
According to data from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey, 22% of households (3,165,000) spent more than 30% of their total income on housing. There were 6,400,200 people living in these households, or 18% of the total population.
However, beyond these numbers, there are some types of households we shouldn’t forget about as the cold weather and holiday season approach.
First, we should remember households whose primary respondent reported experiencing homelessness (that is, living in a homeless shelter, on the street, in a park, in a makeshift shelter or in an abandoned building). According to data from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey, 135,600 households that experienced homelessness (38%) spent more than 30% of their total income on housing. This proportion was much higher than the 22% of all households living in private dwellings that spent more than 30% of their total income on housing.
There are also many renter households living in social and affordable housing that shouldn’t be neglected.
Finally, there are seniors living alone. More than one-third (37.0%) of these seniors lived in an unaffordable dwelling in 2018, while 10.8% of seniors living with one or more other people lived in this type of housing. By comparison, 23.0% of young adults who did not live with their parents lived in an unaffordable dwelling in 2018, while 11.9% lived with their parents.
Statistics are alive and they speak to us. With the charitable campaigns starting soon, let’s remember that life isn’t always easy for some, so we should keep them in our thoughts.
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