Today I’ll be live blogging from a CIP webinar with three speakers from Statistics Canada who will be presenting housing data for planners: Jerry Situ (Chief, Centre for Income and Socioeconomic Statistics, Janette Rodewald (Unit Head, Canadian Housing Statistics Program), and Zheren Hu (Analyst, Canadian Housing Survey).
The objective of the Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP, established in 2017) is to have full residential coverage of all properties in Canada, through property assessment and the land registry. They link this data to other data, e.g. from the Census and from immigration. They publish information for all provinces/territories now, and used to focus on things like non-resident ownership, but now cover sales, buyers, affordability. Res property characteristics and owner characteristics (e.g. resident type, immigrant characteristic, investor type). For example, they can see that housing stock grew at a faster pace in Vancouver recently than in previous years, and the sizes of homes that are being built. Or that there is a reduction in vacant land and properties in Ontario form 2019-2021, and it was a larger decrease in Toronto than any other CMA in Ontario. They publish tables on age, sex, family type, immigration status, and investor type (e.g. in-province, out-of province, non-resident investor, for-profit business investor).
The Census database goes back to 1971, which means you can request a custom tabulation going back 50 yrs. Older data is often available in tables online. Dissemination areas are also relatively stable, and the data covers the entire country. There is more information on the dwelling characteristics (period of construction, private vs. collective dwelling, dwelling condition etc.), household characteristics (e.g. tenure, shelter costs, rent subsidy status, household size, affordability, core housing need), and person characteristics (age, gender, marital status, commuting, ethnocultural diversity, household maintainer). For example, the homeownership rate peaked in 2011 and continues to decline in 2021 (renters increased by 21% while owners increased by just 8.5%). The 2021 Census created downtown designations, and show that renters dominate in downtowns. Using downtowns, about half of the renters in Kingston, Barrie, Halifax, and Peterborough are living in unaffordable housing. Homeownership rates fell the most among young people (aged 25-29) compared to older age groups.
Looking into the core housing need characteristics, we can see that the Indigenous population is much more likely to live in unsuitable or inadequate housing. For newly constructed dwellings (since 2016), about 40% was tenant occupied, and over one-third were occupied by millennial renters or owners. One-fifth of renter households are recent renters who face much higher housing costs than less recent renters (using the variable on households that moved in the past 5 yrs).
The Canadian Housing Survey (CHS), like the CHSP, is a more recent, biennial survey which started in 2018 in partnership with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Core housing needs, and housing outcomes (e.g. dwelling satisfaction, neighbourhood safety and crime, forced moves and reasons). The 2021 cycle asked about impacts of COVID-19, and the 2022 cycle asked about access to transportation. Target populations can be easily identified (e.g. women and children, LGBTQ+, Indigenous, seniors). They integrate tax data, proximity data, immigration data, and publishes tables from the national social and community housing survey database. For example, about half of households moved in the past 5 yrs with the major reasons being upgrading to a larger or better quality dwelling, to become a homeowners, a change in household or family size, but also due to forced evictions (6.8% experienced forced moves). About 3% experienced unsheltered homelessness and 15% hidden homelessness (e.g. waiting for an apartment, fleeing abuse). Common reasons include financial issues, abusive homes, and inability to age in place (seniors). People living in neighbourhoods where they don’t feel safe or where their needs for services are unmet are less satisfied with their housing.
You can find Stats Canada data in the Daily (key findings and news), the StatsCan app, analytical papers, data tables and custom services, conferences and webinars, the Research Data Centres (RDC) at universities, and maps through the Census Explorer. The Housing Statistics Portal is a good way to get started, but you can also contact InfoStats with a specific question. Thanks to the panelists and our host Matt Klaas for giving us a detailed breakdown of the types of data available to us and how to use it to support our communities!
