'Rare and expensive': Why is it so hard to find a 3-bedroom rental these days? | CBC News (2024)

Looking for a three-bedroom rental? Get in line.

AmandaLaflairhas been on a waiting list for one she says she couldafford for four years.

"I work full time ... and between bills and groceries and everything else, I'll never be able to afford fullmarket rent,"Laflair, a 36-year-old personalsupport worker who lives in Ottawa, told CBC News.

Laflair, her husband and their three children have lived in a small, two-bedroom apartment for the last five years, wherethey pay rentshe says is geared to lower incomes. Her two sons sleep in the largerbedroom.She andher daughter sleep in the second bedroom, sharing a bed.

Her husband sleeps every night on the couch.

"We don't have space for anything," she told CBC News, while explaining she alsoasked her rental companyabout internal transfers, but there are rarely any three bedroomavailable.

"Or if they do it's over $2,000 per month plus utilities, which I definitely can't afford," she said.

For many Canadians, finding housing atall is daunting amid surging prices and decreased availability marking Canada's rental housing crisis. Demand isoutpacing supplyacross the country, with vacancyrates reaching a new lowand average rent growth increases reaching a new high, notes a January rental market report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

And a recentCBC News analysis of more than 1,000 neighbourhoods across Canada's largest cities found the market iseven more dire for people looking for multiple bedrooms — typically, families.That leaves many families cramped in smaller units because they can't find something bigger, and if they do, they can't afford it.

Are you:

• An international student who is concerned about housing?
• A senior looking to get back into the rental market?
• Someone who lockedin to a great deal on rent years ago, and isnow reluctant to move?
• Living with a roommate much older or younger than you?
• Living with an ex or staying in a relationship because of the rentalmarket?

If this is you, or you are in a different unique living situation because of the rental crisis, we want to hear from you. Send an email toask@cbc.ca.

Only 14,000 units with two bedrooms or more were potentially vacant and affordable for the median income of families living in a rented place, according to CBC's analysis.And for those looking for three bedrooms, it's even worse, with onlyapproximately 2,850units potentially vacant andaffordable in major citiesacross the country, according toCBC's analysis.

CBC calculated affordability based onrental costs staying below 30 per centof a family's gross income, the generally agreed-upon"rule,"using a $64,108 median income for families who rent. That works out to spendingabout $1,600 on rent per month.

The average price for a three-bedroom rental in May was$3,775 per month in Vancouver,$3,638 per month in Toronto,$3,500 per monthinMontreal,$2,982 per month in Halifax and $2,741 per month in Ottawa,according to listing websiterentals.ca.

"These three-bedroom units are rare and expensive,"Aled ab Iorwerth, deputy chief economist with CMHC, told CBC News.

"It doesn't leave a lot of options."

WATCH | Canada is in a rental crisis:

A lack of bedrooms

To calculate the extent of Canada's rental crisis, CBC Newscombined 2021 census data with the most recent findings from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's rental market survey, conducted in October 2023.

When looking for three-bedroom rentalsthat would be affordablebased on the Canadian median income for families who rent ($64,108), eight major cities had zero available options.

In other words, there are no three-bedroom rentals available for $1,600 per month or less in:Abbotsford, B.C., Guelph, Ont., Kelowna, B.C., Kingston, Oshawa, Ont., St. John's, Vancouveror Victoria. Calgary had one.

Calculating the same based on medianincomesforlone-parent families,$53,934, pushed Canadians out of the three-bedroom rental market in 18 major cities.

The reasonthere areso fewmulti-bedroom units can likely be at least partially explained by the cost of adding bedrooms during construction,ab Iorwerthwith CMHC said. Many provinces have building codes that require each bedroom to have a window, he said,which hasa tendency to make the cost of building three-bedroomunits disproportionately more expensive.

"Because of that jump in price in getting a three-bedroom unit, developers and builders just put lessof them in," he said.

The non-profit U.S.-basedCenter for Building in North America echoes the statement in a blog post from last May about why it's so hard to find family-sized apartments in the U.S. and Canada:codes.

"North American zoning and building codes work together to drive up the size of multi-bedroom apartments in particular, putting them financially out of reach for many parents raising children," executive director Stephen Smith wrote.

"The effect is clearly that apartments, in order to provide the same number of bedrooms and give everyone a window, must necessarily consume far more floor area."

Even back in 2018, Calgary real estate developer Chris Ollenbergertold CBCthat three-bedroom condos were costly to build. He described apartment buildings as tall rectangles where you have to make the mostefficient use of the space, and said three-bedroom unitsare the hardest to make fit.

'When did this happen??'

Today, some people searching online for three-bedroom units are shocked by the prices. Inapost on Reddit'sCanada housing forum inApril, user "Far-Simple1979" wrote "When did this happen??" in response to an online ad for a $5,700 per month three-bedroom apartment in Halifax.

Inanother post, a user from Toronto, Glitter_Divide101,asked advice on making a two-bedroom, 950-square-foot condo work for a family of four.

"It's not going to be possible to upsize from a two-bedroom. Who wants to live longer than fiveyears in a two-bedroom? People want a kid or two. They want to work from home," wrote a user from Montreal, Agreeable-Ask-7594.

WATCH | Renting with kids:

Meanwhile, some cities, such as Toronto and Vancouver,are already pushing for change by requiring developersto include a certain percentage of larger units inbuildings.

And city council in Victoriarecently endorsed a plan that sets guidelines for the percentage of three-bedroom units required in rental buildings. A report by Sustainable Planning and Community Developmentthatwas presentedlastweek called the need for more family-sized housing in Victoria "well-established and increasingly urgent."

"While rising rents and home prices have made finding affordable housing challenging for most households, families with children face even greater challenges because of the limited availability of suitable homes," the report said.

"Worse still, families seeking to rent a three-bedroom home faced the highest average rent increases over the past four years."

But it'sclear Canada needs more mixed housing, with more density at the ground level such as townhouses and rowhouses— housing structuresthat are more family-oriented,ab Iorwerthsaid.

"At the moment, I'm afraid we're stuck in this dichotomy of either apartment structures or single, detached housing,"he said.

'Trying to be optimistic'

Fidelia Cabrera says she's one of the lucky ones. The mom of four kids under the age of seven lives in a three-bedroom, basem*nt apartment in Ottawa. Her three daughters share one room, her son has his own, and she and her husbandshare the third room.

Even then, it's tight, Cabrera said, and living in a basem*nt where they don't have temperature control hasitsdownsides.

"We're cold in the summer and too hot in the winter," Cabrera, 40, said withalaugh.

But she's already paying about $1,900 per month, and says they can't afford to move.

"I'm trying to be optimistic," she said. "I have good people near me. I have food.I'mvery lucky."