The right to housing for people with disabilities: Core housing need

We are monitoring the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities in Canada. We are looking at people who are in “core housing need”.

People in core housing need:

• Live in housing that is unaffordable, inadequate, or unsuitable.

• Don’t have enough money to move to housing nearby that is affordable, adequate, and suitable.

Affordable housing costs less than 30% of a household’s income before tax.

Adequate housing doesn’t need major repairs.

Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the people who live there.

What we found

• People with disabilities are almost two times more likely to be in core housing need.^{Footnote 1}

  • People in core housing need in 2022:

    • 11% of people with disabilities

    • 6% of people without disabilities

• Renters with disabilities are over-represented in core housing need.

  • In 2022, 27% of the population had a disability. But 42% of renters in core housing need had a disability.

What people told us^{Footnote 2}

• “The front door doesn’t lock. The furnace is broken. The oven doesn’t work. The landlord said we will be evicted if we ask for repairs. We can’t afford to live anywhere else.”

• “All I can afford is a room that has cockroaches and bedbugs. Waitlists for subsidized housing and co-ops have been full for years.”

• “Our family of five is living in my parents’ small house. The overcrowding is taking a toll on us. We don’t get enough sleep. There’s mold and we keep getting sick. There’s no privacy. We feel like failures because we can’t give our family a proper home.”