Access to adequate and affordable housing is a key part of immigrant settlement. Immigrants must find a home before looking for other essential services such as language and job training, education for their children, and employment. Housing is also an important indicator of quality of life, affecting health, social interaction, community participation, economic activity, and general well-being.
Immigrants who settle in Canada's biggest cities face a critical challenge: that of finding their 'place' with static rental stocks and rapidly rising demand, and they must do so with incomes that are generally well below average. In Canada's three biggest cities, the level of immigrant reception is far too rapid to be accommodated in a single area or type of neighbourhood. Instead, immigrant settlement has been taking place in inner- and middle-range suburbs, and in some cases distant suburbs.
Research suggests that there is an 'immigrant effect' in the housing market - that is, in their first ten years in Canada, immigrants achieve a very high rate of homeownership. This is achieved partly through assembling larger households to pool income, and partly through the use of savings brought to Canada. However, housing involves great costs for most newcomers. Their savings are depleted, and around half of all household income is dedicated to housing in the initial few years of settlement. Paying such a high ratio of income for housing means that some immigrants, particularly those who have not managed to purchase a home, become trapped in the housing market.
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Material from this section has been adapted from The Housing Situation and Needs of Recent Immigrants in the Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver CMAs: An Overview, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 2006.