State of Central Okanagan Renting Market Severe: Canadian Housing Index

Over half of the renters in the Central Okanagan are spending at least 30 per cent of their income on housing, and seven per cent of renters are living in overcrowded conditions.

Classifying the Central Okanagan’s housing market as severe, the Canadian Rental Housing Index found that about 22 per cent of residents are renting.

With an average renter household income of $51,359, rent and utilities typically account for around $1,112.

The average percentage of income spent on rent and utilities in the Central Okanagan is 26 per cent, but nearly 9,000 renters, or 54 per cent, are spending more than 30 per cent of their income.

Meanwhile, approximately 4,390 renters, or 27 per cent, are spending more than 50 per cent of their income.

Around 1,125 renters are currently living in overcrowded conditions in the Central Okanagan. Moreover, there would need to be at least 1,450 more bedrooms available in the Central Okanagan in order to house all renters comfortably.

According to the housing index, housing is typically considered affordable if a household spends 30 per cent or less before-tax income on rent and utilities.

“For example, in the Central Okanagan, renter households earning less than $24,667 and living in two bedroom units pay an average of 63 per cent of their income each month on rent and utilities.”

Renters in this category would need to earn an average of $18,187 more per year in order to make their current renting situation affordable.

It’s not just the Central Okanagan that is experiencing a housing shortfall, as most of the country ranks somewhere between poor and critical.

Only eight districts across Canada are considered satisfactory when it comes to affordable housing, none of which are located in British Columbia.

Most of the province’s renting standards are considered either poor or severe, and as a whole, B.C. is in a "critical" state. The Kootenay Boundary has been labelled as critical, as renters earning less than $13,872 annually and living in two bedroom units pay an average of 160 per cent of their income each month on rent and utilities.