'Kind of dehumanizing': What it's like trying to find a decent place to rent in Calgary these days
CBC
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.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.