Canada’s housing crisis is leaving many seniors out in the cold - literally

Open this photo in gallery:

Canadians of a certain age will remember the television ads from the 1980s that conjured a wondrous dream: Freedom 55.

Freedom 55 touted the idea of retiring a full decade earlier than most were leaving the work force, to enjoy one’s “golden years” in comfort and style.

Well, like many things of yesteryear, the notion of retiring early for many in this country is a preposterous fantasy. Even the idea of enjoying your “golden years” without the worry of, say, wondering where you’ll lay your head down at night, is increasingly difficult if not impossible.

The housing crisis we hear so much about focuses mostly on the need for affordable places for young families to live. What we hear about less is the effect that skyrocketing rents are having on our senior population.

It’s a burgeoning crisis, if not a full-blown one already.

B.C.’s seniors advocate, Isobel Mackenzie, said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press that the consequences of rising rents were “catastrophic” for a growing number of older people in the province, putting a number of them at risk of being homeless, if they were not already living outdoors or under tenuous circumstances.

Many seniors who rent have been renters all their lives. But for most of those years, these folks did not have to endure the types of rent increases we are seeing today. The cost of a one-bedroom apartment in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto is obscene and gobbles up a majority of seniors’ monthly income.

According to Urbanation, asking rents for all residential property types in Canada averaged $2,174 in November. That represented a year-over-year increase of 8.4 per cent, compared with annual increases of 9.9 per cent in October and 11.1 per cent in September.

Rents increased the most in Alberta, which posted a year-over-year increase in November of 16.1 per cent.

In Vancouver, the average cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment in December was $2,866, a year-over-year increase of 5.8 per cent. In Toronto, it was $2,594.

Last spring, Urbanation published data showing rent prices across the Greater Toronto area had increased by more than 40 per cent between 2021-22. Some of that increase is the result of mortgage rate hikes. When they go up, investors who own rental properties increase rents to cover their mortgage costs. It’s basic economics. Other rental buildings are being demolished to make way for soaring residential towers.

These numbers aren’t a complete revelation. But what we don’t often think about is the effect they are having on people whose incomes have taken a massive hit: seniors. Many retire to budgets that are half of what they were when they were working. Today, seniors can’t count on company pensions the way they once could.

Many seniors rely on monthly stipends from the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and, if they meet the need threshold, a Guaranteed Income Supplement. What these amount to in total for a senior depends on various factors, but regardless, the vast majority of that total is going to be eaten up by housing costs.

And we know that none of these government programs are increasing at anything close to the annual rates that housing costs are increasing at. The CPP is indexed to inflation. The OAS and GIS are indexed based on variations in the consumer price index – but you’re not seeing hikes of more than 40 per cent over two years.

In B.C., the average monthly subsidy provided by Shelter Aid for elderly renters increased by 3 per cent from five years ago, but fell last year by 2 per cent to $195. That compares with a 19-per-cent increase in the average rental cost of a one-bedroom apartment over the past five years.

Ms. Mackenzie says 50 per cent of B.C. seniors currently in the rental marketplace are struggling to afford the rates being charged. And with more and more seniors entering their “golden years,” the problem is being exacerbated. She has seen an increase in the number of seniors accessing homeless shelters. The wait list for social housing in B.C. has 18,865 households on it, with seniors and families most in need.

That’s a 27-per-cent increase from 2022, and only 8 per cent of subsidized units in B.C. turn over each year.

All of which is to say that times have indeed changed. Now a senior’s so-called golden years can be some of the most stressful and challenging of their lives. Freedom 55? It’s hard to believe that was ever even a thing.