Rent and affordability driving Sask. renters to the polls this election

Shane Prpich has been a renter his whole adult life and says it has never been less affordable. That's driving him to the polls this federal election.

The 48-year-old Saskatoon native has been renting in the city since 2005, after a stint renting in Calgary.

Prpich said he used to be a world traveller — a benefit of renting — but those days are long gone.

"I had a comfortable living, rent was affordable, my wages were decent, I had disposable income, I traveled, I went to university [and] I could afford to go to university," Prpich said in a phone call interview with CBC.

Prpich has rented all over Saskatoon. In his early days he paid around $400 a month. Fast forward to today and he pays $1,119 a month — soon going up to $1,325  — for a place in the city's northeast.

"Energy, food, clothing, everything skyrocketed in my lifetime, but the worst thing has always been housing, and rent just keeps going up and up and up.… I've never really had an opportunity to buy a home," he said.

"Right now my salary is $60,000 a year. I'm at the average Canadian salary, so if I can't afford to buy a home, the average Canadian can't afford to buy a home."

While Saskatoon has some of the cheapest rents nationally at $1,276 for a one bedroom and $1,516 for a two bedroom, the year-over-year increase in price for both is more than six per cent, according to the latest data from Rentals.ca for the month of March.

Regina's average rent is $1,242 for a one bedroom and $1,486 for a two bedroom. Year-over-year rent for a one bedroom decreased by two per cent.

Prpich said his vote is for policy that reflects more and cheaper housing supply.

Forty-five per cent of Canadians are concerned about their housing affordability, according to the most recent Canadian Social Survey done by Statistics Canada in 2024.

Statistics also indicate 69 per cent of Canadians in the Prairies face one or more housing challenges.

Organizations like Regina's Anti-Poverty Ministry want the federal government to recommit to increasing social housing stock in the province.

"There was a program from 1974 to 1993 which was phased out and ultimately cut off in 1993 where there were significant federal commitments to expand the social housing stock nationally," Gilmer, who works with the anti-poverty ministry, said.