Canadian Housing Survey

People in Toronto are the most unhappy in the country when it comes to housing

If you live in the GTA you probably already know of, or have experienced the slew of issues surrounding Toronto's housing market. From affordability to availability, it's really difficult to find housing that isn't going to break the bank, or your spirit.

New data from Statistics Canada only confirms this recipe for disaster with the sobering fact that out of Canada's ten largest census areas, Toronto and Vancouver are the least satisfied with their housing.

According to the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey, most households were satisfied with their dwelling, while households in Toronto reported the lowest level of satisfaction with their dwelling.

The data also revealed that households in Toronto were the most likely to live in unsuitable dwellings, while households in Quebec were least likely to do so. 

Canadian Housing SurveyDespite Toronto having many vibrant neighbourhoods, across the ten largest census metropolitan areas, Toronto has the lowest neighbourhood satisfaction rate with 82 per cent, out of the ten largest metropolitan census areas.

Neighbourhood satisfaction is examined alongside items such as  neighbourhood disorder, safety and services, and socio-demographic and household characteristics.

The study suggests that neighbourhood satisfaction is also associated with population density.

"Households living in rural areas were more satisfied with their neighbourhood at 91.4 per cent than households living in small, medium and large urban population centres of Canada," the study reads.

About three quarters of households rated their satisfaction with feeling as part of their community at six or more on a scale of zero to ten. 

"Interestingly, while a sense of belonging to the community is related to neighbourhood satisfaction, volunteering and participating in community groups were less related to neighbourhood satisfaction," the study noted.

Households where the respondents participated in a community group within the neighbourhood had a neighbourhood satisfaction rate of 89 per cent  versus a rate of 84 per cent for other households.

The second set of results from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey will be released in January 2020.

Lead photo by

Lori Whelan


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