The Low-End of Market Rental (LEMR) Housing Monitor is a centralized data mapping tool that presents critical information on the location and characteristics of the affordable “low-end” of market rental housing stock in six urban regions across Canada: Calgary, Halifax, Greater Montreal Area, Greater Toronto Area, Metro Vancouver Area, and Winnipeg.
By integrating and aggregating data from various sources, the LEMR Housing Monitor demonstrates how the affordable rental stock has changed over time, and uncovers key trends impacting the affordability of housing, for example related to evictions and new housing developments.
Using this tool
The LEMR Housing Monitor can be used by policymakers, urban planners, service providers, and community advocates to actively intervene on issues related to housing supply and to monitor the impact of their housing programs and policies.
The LEMR Housing Monitor can empower and equip decision-makers with the best information to make data-driven decisions and address gaps in our understanding of rental housing trends.
Visit our Data Maps to browse the data and watch our instructional video to learn more about using the maps.
Read our Data Definitions to learn how we’re defining “affordable housing.”
About the project
The LEMR Housing Monitor project was developed by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR), Purpose Analytics, the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and R and Shiny Developer Sharla Gelfand, with generous support from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Housing Supply Challenge. The goal of this project is to provide data and information that can enrich evidence-based decision-making in housing across Canada.
A lack of affordable rental housing has resulted in a crisis in communities across Canada. Among the millions of people who are affected, lower-income renters are facing especially alarming difficulties securing a home they can afford. Despite growing attention paid to this issue, not enough is known about the scale and scope of the deeply affordable housing stock that currently exists in Canada, or about the changes that are taking place at the low-end of the private rental market that so many people rely on.
To address this critical knowledge and planning gap, the LEMR Housing Monitor presents information on the location and prevalence of low-end private market housing within each city it analyses. Data comes from a variety of sources such as census data, administrative data from local governments, and data from community organizations to name a few.
The LEMR Housing Monitor would not have been possible without the contributions of dozens of organizations and advisors across Canada. We thank them for their invaluable contributions and intrinsic roles in establishing this tool.
Land Acknowledgement
The LEMR Housing Monitor recognizes that its work and the work of its community partners takes place on traditional Indigenous territories across Canada. We are grateful to be able to work and live in these territories, which include 634 different First Nation communities, 53 Inuit communities, and 8 Métis settlements. We are thankful to, and honoured to collaborate with, the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who have cared for these territories throughout their history, and who continue to contribute to the strength of Canada and to all communities across the country.
Funder Acknowledgement
The “Low-end of Market Rental Housing Monitor” received generous funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Housing Supply Challenge – Data Driven Round. However, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.