'Kind of dehumanizing': What it's like trying to find a decent place to rent in Calgary these days

Calgarians looking for a decent place to live say navigating the city's rental market has become an exhausting, demoralizing ordeal.

"As a born-and-raised Calgarian, I'm shocked. It feels pretty dismal," said Laura Martin, who is currently living in a mobile home park with her husband and three children.

The family used to rent a home in the southeast community of Midnapore, but decided in 2019 to downsize in order to save for a down payment, with the goal of purchasing a house. But those plans were derailed by the pandemic, an unexpected layoff and, now, inflation.

Martin says they now feel stuck in what was meant to be a temporary living situation. The mobile home is relatively affordable but small and in poor condition, and she's been struggling to get the landlord to complete long-needed repairs.

But finding a better place to live has been next to impossible.

"Options are few and far between," she said. "If I do find a rental that's under $3,000 a month that would accommodate my family of five and allow my pet, my cat, then oftentimes there's bidding wars on it."

She's far from alone in her struggle.

Recent increases in housing costs have far outstripped most people's income, according to a Calgary Economic Development report presented to city council this week.

"This means that 379,200 working Calgarians would be stretching their financial resilience to independently access even the most affordable of market housing currently available," the report says.

Calgary had a vacancy rate of just 2.6 per cent in October 2022, according to the latest report from the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation. Outside the downtown and Beltline communities, the rate was even lower, ranging from just 1.2 to 1.9 per cent in other parts of the city.

And since October, the market appears to have tightened even further, as Calgary has experienced a population surge with an influx of people coming from across Canada and around the world.

Among them was Shannon Greer, who used to live in Calgary and moved back to the city in February after several years in Victoria, B.C.

She came back for a job opportunity and was taken by surprise at how hard it was to find a place to rent in 2023. Even in a tight market, she and her partner figured they'd be able to find something, as working professionals with no kids and no pets.

But the market is so tight, she's still looking for a place — four months after arriving — and has been relying on friends and family for temporary accommodations in the meantime.