Housing Stresses Out Vancouver Renters

High rental rates have some people with lower life satisfaction

While Vancouver is a highly desired place to live with its westcoast vibe, lots of outdoor activities and vibrant dining scene, once people discover the rental housing situation, they get stressed out.

So much so they are more likely to have worse mental health and life satisfaction than other residents and in particular homeowners in British Columbia.

Eby has kicked in government land for housing

The survey by Statistics Canada sampled 20,000 households across the country from 2021 to 2023. It found those living in Metro Vancouver during that period reported lower life satisfaction and worse mental health than others in BC, and had a lower sense of "belonging to their community."

In Metro Vancouver, sense of belonging is at 45.2 percent compared to 47.8 percent in BC, and 46.9 percent in Canada.

Mariah Javadi, a volunteer with the Vancouver Tenants Union says renters' mental health is severely impacted due to housing instability. "[It's] to the point where they hear a knock at the door, they think it's their landlord, they immediately go into panic attack."

Cost of living is another worrying issue for Canadians. In 2021 Statistics Canada said fewer than 19 percent of Canadians reported difficulty making ends meet, but it rose to nearly 27 percent in the second quarter of 2023.

The agency added in 2021 nearly 30 percent of people in Metro Vancouver spent half their income on housing.

Vancouver has highest rental rates in Canada

In the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's annual report, Metro Vancouver had the highest average rent for a two-bedroom place for C$2,181, and the highest price for a newly rented two-bedroom for C$2,601; the lower mainland also had the lowest vacancy rate among the country's major cities at 0.9 percent.

While all three levels of government are making housing a priority issue in BC by throwing money into the problem, they still need to be built and there's not enough labour to construct them all... a drop in the bucket but at least they're trying?