Unsuitable Housing

This map shows the percentage of households living in 'unsuitable' housing. Unsuitable means that there are too many people occupying the dwelling unit to live comfortably together, according to the National Occupancy Standard. See the bottom for an exact definition. Also refer to the corresponding map based on 2016 data and the corresponding map based on 2011 data. This measure of overcrowding is only a general guideline indicating pressure to upgrade to a home with more bedrooms. In individual cases households that are classified as overcrowded by the criteria may well feel comfortable with their living arrangements, and some households that are classified as having suitable housing may feel high pressure to change to a place with more bedrooms. In Metro Vancouver 8.1% of households were overcrowded by this measure (up from 7.3% in 2016), as opposed to 4.9% in Metro Calgary, 5.5% in Metro Edmonton, 5.7% in Metro Montreal and 10.3% in Metro Toronto (up from 9.6% in 2016). On the municipal level in Vancouver, Surrey stands out with 12.1% overcrowded households, up from 9.2% in 2016. City of Vancouver clocks in at 7.5% down from 8% in 2016, and Burnaby at 9.9%, up from 9.3% in 2016. Use the search bar, zoom and pan to explore overcrowded households elsewhere in Canada. National Occupancy Standard The Canadian National Occupancy Standard assesses the bedroom requirements of a household based on the following criteria: There should be no more than two persons per bedroom; Children less than 5 years of age of different sexes may reasonably share a bedroom; Children 5 years of age or older of opposite sex should have separate bedrooms; Children less than 18 years of age and of the same sex may reasonably share a bedroom; and Single household members 18 years or over should have a separate bedroom, as should parents or couples.

Author: CensusMapper Team

Dataset: CA21