Making room for everyone
PhD candidate Alexander Petric identifies housing inequalities
in the Region of Waterloo
Waterloo Region is facing a housing crisis, characterized by decreasing housing affordability and insufficient supply of affordable housing. These same issues are seen across Ontario, Canada, and North America. This crisis can force individuals into housing that is unsuitable (too crowded), unaffordable or both. Previous University of Waterloo research has shown that vulnerable, low-income, and student populations are most affected, and face relocations, social network disintegration, discrimination, and eviction.
The Region of Waterloo has seen strong population growth over the past decade. While regional and municipal governments do not supply housing directly, they do project and plan for future housing needs. However, traditional housing assessments and response plans only consider population projections and average household sizes to generate an estimated number of housing units needed. Alex Petric, a PhD candidate in the School of Planning, and co-authors argue that to meet the needs of diverse household types and communities, an expanded analysis is required.
Petric has experienced the effects of the housing crisis while searching for housing. “When my wife and I explored buying a home in the Region, even by pooling our resources with some of our friends, we could not find anything that would suit our needs.” Petric’s personal insight adds to his research in housing and its influence on urban social capital formation, which focuses on how expanded housing options can help residents get and stay connected to their communities.
Petric analyzed building permit data in the Region of Waterloo to compare recent and upcoming housing projects to increasing housing demand. He also used census data to determine how well the Region’s housing meets the needs of the population in terms of housing suitability, which measures overcrowding among households.
The results showed that while recent housing projects have added supply, new construction is slowing. Despite these projects, housing needs are still exceeding the Region’s new construction. The downtown cores of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge showed apparent shortages of housing when compared to population growth, especially in areas close to the ION Light Rail line.
Petric also determined that whether households were in suitable housing (a census measure of whether households have enough space in their homes for their household members) varied greatly between different household types. One-parent families and households with members beyond parents and children (such as grandparents) were far more likely to live in unsuitable, overcrowded housing. Members of visible minorities, recent immigrants and low-income residents were more likely to live in unsuitable housing, but standard housing needs assessments often overlook these social and demographic trends.
The results from Petric’s work highlight the need to integrate social and demographic data into housing needs assessments. “This will allow municipalities like the Region of Waterloo to more accurately monitor where their existing housing falls short and for whom it is falling short,” he says. This knowledge could be used to make better housing development decisions and help the Region’s diverse residents find fitting places to live.
The research, Making room for everyone: Assessing housing needs and suitability in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario via time, space, and equity lenses, authored by Petric and others from the University of Waterloo, was recently published in the Canadian Planning and Policy Journal.