What groups are the most affected by deteriorating housing affordability?

Black Canadians and South Asians are disproportionately affected by the cost of housing in Canada, according to a new report by Statistics Canada.

Amid soaring home prices, nearly three out of four (74%) Black Canadians said that they are very concerned about the state of housing affordability, along with 65% of South Asians.

This phenomenon mirrored the findings of the 2021 Census, which reported that these groups were less likely to be homeowners and more likely to face financial vulnerability related to housing.

Bycontrast, non-racialized and non-Indigenous people reported the least concern (38%) over housing prices.

“When asked whether rising prices influenced their decision to move within the past six months, over four in 10 Filipino (48%), South Asian (41%), and Black (40%) people agreed that it had, compared with slightly over one in five non-racialized, non-Indigenous individuals (21%),” StatCan reported.

These groups were also found to be more prone to financial vulnerability compared to other population groups.

More than half (51%) of Black Canadians said that their household would not be able to cover an unexpected expense of $500 today, followed by 38% of Filipino people. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, only 14% of Chinese said that they would be unable to cope with such an expense.