Renting in Canada This Week: Rental Shortages and Stinky Tenants

What's causing Canada's current rental housing shortage? 

That continues to be a hot topic for discussion, though no one - experts, researchers, politicians and newcomers alike - can agree.

So, will building more rental stock bring asking prices down? And what to do about a vengeful, stinky tenant?

We recap all this and more in this edition of Renting in Canada This Week. Enjoy:

Rents are just one reason why Canadian renters are also likely to have more credit card debt, experts tell 
Catherine Zhu of CBC's The Current. Financial literacy is important for everyone, including newcomers, no matter their financial situation. 

Alberta remains a prime destination for newcomers to Canada, and rents are affordable compared to many other cities. Here are five things to know about housing in the Oil and Gas province.

 

 

As Jacob Barker of CBC News reports, this tenant left a Windsor landlord one heck of an awful, stinky mess. WARNING: You may not want to look. 

Will falling interest rates revive Ontario’s rental apartment construction? Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON), tells Mike Lewis of Ontario Construction News that it's not enough. 

So, what do lifelong renters in Toronto want? Writing in the Toronto Star, Dianne Rinehart explains the priorities for the growing number of eternal renters.

Brampton has long been a popular destination for newcomers from India, and the good news is that rent prices (and demand are falling. But for how long?

This Bisnow story is from the United States, but it bolsters the argument that rents will decrease if rental buildings are built. However, a Canadian study claims that won't necessarily happen in Canada.  Interesting. 

In an opinion piece published in the Hamilton Spectator, Tim Cahill, owner of Real Property Management Haven Inc., argues that  small landlords in Ontario are being pushed out of the renal market, which directly impacts tenants

 

Yushu Zhu and Hanan Ali of Simon Fraser take a deep dive into what has caused Canada's rental housing crisis. (Hint: it isn't immigrants).

As this story by Rachel Goodman in now. about a newcomer to Canada being asked by a landlord to pay six months' rent upfront (it happens all the time!) points out,  using a realtor to help find a rental can help immigrants and international students avoid rental scams.

 

A Leger poll commissioned by OMNI says that nearly seven in 10 new Canadians think politicians are using immigration as a “red herring” to distract from other factors contributing to the lack of affordable housing, such as government policies and economic conditions. 

Finally, according to an Oct. 1 post from Statistics Canada, nearly 250,000  Canadian households are on a wait list for social and affordable housing.

Here's the latest edition of our Monthly Housing Newsletter for Newcomers and International Students. 

If you have a question, please email us at rentals@prepareforcanada.com

Steve Tustin is the Editor for Rentals for Newcomers and a contributing editor for Prepare for Canada. He is also the former managing editor of Storeys.com and a former senior editor at the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.

*No AI-generated content was used in the writing of this story, and all sources are cited and credited where possible.

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