Buying a home in the Toronto area has long been completely out of the question for most who live here thanks to real estate prices skyrocketing ever further beyond what anyone can afford on a typical income, but rentals are quickly catching up, too, not just in the city but across Ontario.

As not just owning, but also leasing becomes progressively less tenable and forces people to consider leaving the province, new data puts into perspective just how bad the situation has gotten over the last few years, even for those who have accepted that they will be tenants forever.

Canadians are greedy real estate investors. Some how the second largest country in the world with a small population is sending housing to the moon. This will kill the future for young folks

— michael Franklin (@frankytank007) June 5, 2023

The Canadian Rental Housing Index released by the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association on Monday outlines how rent prices have escalated in each part of the nation from 2016 to 2021, and the findings are jarring.

The assessment, which examined rent prices, income levels, density, and housing quality across locations and demographics, indicates "a staggering increase in rental costs and significant housing challenges faced by renter households across the country" on top of "a number of other worrying affordability trends."

Salaries & wages have not also gone up 20%.

Toronto public transit is unreliable. Health care in Ontario is horrific & getting worse as the Premier pushes us towards privatization. Housing is scarce & unaffordable. The cost of living is unsustainable.

Toronto is dying. #topoli https://t.co/lLXlAKKVfK pic.twitter.com/JnMKZ9OnJG

— Chelsey Colbert (@chelseycolbert) May 15, 2023

This was found to be the case especially — and most concerningly — in provinces that were already expensive, where "a substantial surge" in rent prices was noticed over the time period.

While B.C. led the way with a whopping 30 per cent increase in average rents over the five years surveyed, Ontario was not far behind, with a whopping 27 per cent jump. The two provinces also have the highest proportion of renters spending what the association calls "unaffordable or crisis amounts" on housing costs.

Set aside the ridiculous unfairness of it: that Boomers have seen this windfall of wealth at the expense of the next generations

Bad outcomes: middle class families are either giving up on home ownership or moving out of the cities that NEED THEM to teach or nurse or police

4/

— Ron Butler (@ronmortgageguy) June 19, 2023

In Ontario, 15 per cent of people are dedicating more than half their monthly income — that crisis amount — to keeping a roof over their head, while 38 per cent are spending 30 per cent of their earnings.

Approximately half a million households nationwide are also living in overcrowded conditions to afford the cost of living, a trend that is on the rise. Marginalized groups are, of course, the most impacted.

The organization says this shows a collective failure of the government and other stakeholders to invest in rental housing to keep prices at reasonable levels.

GTA and souther Ontario has a 25 year housing crisis . Expedited increasing immigration is going to make it incredibly unaffordable for anyone to own homes in this province. Sad state of affairs here.

— Mike (@BiggestOrtizFan) May 23, 2023

"This data is a call to action that we need to do more to address rental costs, rental housing quality," the report continues.

"We cannot ignore the significant proportion of renter households burdened with unaffordable housing expenses [and] we must work together to create a future where all Canadians can access quality housing."

Vacancy decontrol is a 30 year experiment that has failed to deliver the rental housing that was promised. pic.twitter.com/kl4zhL3rbJ

— Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (@TenantAdvocacy) June 6, 2023

The index put the average that Ontarians are spending on rent and utilities, regardless of income level, at $1,946 per month based on 2021 census data.