COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

“They were saying that the
waitlist was going to be like, 3
months and if you’re homeless,
you don’t want to wait like 3
months to get a place ...You want
a place that you can feel secure
and be stable and not being on
like, ‘Is somebody going to come
rob me? Or shank me while I’m
sleeping on the street?’ You don’t
want to worry about getting
murdered. You want to feel safe.”
Rental Market Challenges
Obtaining rental housing was extremely difficult for
youth and their families in many communities across
Canada. In major cities like Toronto, Vancouver,
and Calgary, youth discussed the high cost of rent,
low vacancy rates, and lack of affordable housing.
In smaller communities there was very little
housing to rent, and some youth from Northern
and rural communities were forced to move to
try to find housing. Youth in large urban centres
identified gentrification, developer speculation, and
condominium development as severely impacting
the availability of affordable housing.
ST. JOHN’S YOUTH
When seeking housing on their own, youth particularly struggled with being unable to meet
the requirements landlords often demanded, including references, ID, a good credit score, proof
of employment, no history of evictions, and/or a co-signer. In many cases youth were unable to
obtain the funds to pay two months rent up front, plus the damage deposit required in some
provinces/territories. These challenges were further amplified by landlord discrimination on the
basis of class, age, gender, and race.
Many youth felt
that landlords did
not want to rent to
a person their age
or anyone on social
assistance.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 46