According to an online report by Rentals.ca, the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in Edmonton is now as much as rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Calgary and experts say that is unsustainable.
Similar to Dhaval Pandya who moved from Toronto to Calgary, many other people are finding out about the drastic changes in Calgary’s housing market.
“The housing market is getting expensive day by day and harder to afford, I wish I had more information on the housing situation here,” said Pandya.
According to a Housing Needs Assessment, report released by the City of Calgary, there has been an almost 40 per cent increase in rent and a 37 per cent increase in the price of a detached home since 2020.
The report also found that Calgarians spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.
Even though Calgary has avoided answering any questions on this issue, they are trying to do some damage control by bringing the housing affordability task force to ensure that Calgary citizens do not have to spend more than 30 per cent of their income.
Volga Pannu who works as a security officer at a hospital has been a homeowner for many years.
“In my experience, interest rates increasing on mortgages has caused rent to increase,” she said.
The Bank of Canada has repeatedly raised its key interest rate over the past year, to fight inflation. This has also made it more difficult for those with a mortgage to keep up with payments.
There are many people in Calgary who blame landlords for an increase in rent and in many situations, this may or may not be fair to them.
“I am attempting to make rent as affordable as I can for my tenants, however, when I renewed my mortgage, the new interest rate increased my mortgage by $500 a month, I had no choice by to raise the rent for my tenants on their rental renewal,” said Pannu.
Making this situation worse for students, the minimum wage is only $15 for Alberta.
Saurabh Thorve is a recent SAIT graduate who works a minimum-wage job and is financially frustrated.
“This situation is affecting me a lot mentally and because of it I am unable to save any money,” he said.
There are even some Calgarians such as Nika Kuperis who are moving out of the city to maintain a better standard of life.
“I would rather commute to the city than live here,” she said.
According to The Canadian Real Estate Association around 33,958 people moved to Alberta, which is 5.8 per cent more compared to 2022.
Kuperis believes that the government is not doing anything to increase housing, even though a lot of people are migrating to Calgary from around Canada, and this is making housing costly.
Calgary’s Housing Needs Assessment states that the population of Calgary is expected to increase by 1.5 million.
The rate of household needs indicates that households that earn less than 65 per cent of the average salary and spend more than 30 per cent of their income in Calgary is just as much as the national rate.
These data show that Calgary is on the verge of becoming as costly as Toronto or Vancouver when it comes to housing.
This situation has become really hard for students as they are not even able to afford a single room to themselves. Niraj Dobaraya is an international student who is currently studying at the University of Calgary and has started sharing a room.
“I would prefer to have a room by myself, but I can’t really afford it,” said Dobaraya.
While students like Dobaraya have to share their rooms with friends or people they barely know, there are some students who are able to share their rooms with their siblings.
Saurabh Thorve and his sister Sayali rented a two-bedroom apartment, but because of increased rent, they have now moved to a four-bedroom house so that they can share it with five other people.
“I wish I could go back to 2020 when the rents were affordable, even though I love living with my friends it sometimes feels like seven people in a house is too much,” said Sayali Thorve. “We sometimes have to wait in line just to use the bathroom.”
While some are worried about their current situation, others are worried about the next generation.
Parents are worried about their children not able to afford a place to live. They are worried that it may impact their mental health.
Long-time homeowner Rod Miller is going through the same feeling.
“It is a challenge for my children since they are at their home-buying age and it is just incredibly hard and costly to buy a house with this mortgage rate,” said Miller.
