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2A Housing Affordability
Description | Specific Indicators | Ontario Public Health Standards | Corresponding Health Indicators from Statistics Canada and CIHI | Corresponding Indicators from Other Sources | Data Sources | Survey Questions | Alternative Data Sources | Analysis Check List | Method of Calculation | Basic Categories | Indicator Comments | Definitions | Cross-References to Other Indicators | Cited ReferencesChanges Made | Acknowledgements

Description 

Households (renters, owners, and total) spending 30% or more of total household income on shelter expenses. Shelter expenses include payments for electricity, oil, gas, coal, wood or other fuels, water and other municipal services, monthly mortgage payments, property taxes, condominium fees and rent.

As a general rule, households are considered to have affordability problems if more than 30% of household income is spent on housing costs. At that level of spending, it is likely that inadequate funds will be available for other necessities such as food, clothing, and transportation. Housing affordability problems affect renters more than owners.

 

Specific Indicators
  • Housing Affordability for Renters
  • Housing Affordability for Owners
  • Housing Affordability (Total)
Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS)

The Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) establish requirements for the fundamental public health programs and services carried out by boards of health, which include assessment and surveillance, health promotion and policy development, disease and injury prevention, and health protection. The OPHS consist of one Foundational Standard and 13 Program Standards that articulate broad societal goals that result from the activities undertaken by boards of health and many others, including community partners, non-governmental organizations, and governmental bodies. These results have been expressed in terms of two levels of outcomes: societal outcomes and board of health outcomes. Societal outcomes entail changes in health status, organizations, systems, norms, policies, environments, and practices and result from the work of many sectors of society, including boards of health, for the improvement of the overall health of the population. Board of health outcomes are the results of endeavours by boards of health and often focus on changes in awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, practices, environments, and policies. Boards of health are accountable for these outcomes. The standards also outline the requirements that boards of health must implement to achieve the stated results.

 

Outcomes Related to this Indicator 
  • Societal Outcome (Chronic Disease Prevention): An increased proportion of the population lives, works, plays, and learns in healthy environments that contribute to chronic disease prevention.
  •  
    Assessment and/or Surveillance Requirements Related to this Indicator  
    • The board of health shall collect or access the following types of population health data and information: i) Socio-demographics including population counts by age, sex, education, employment, income, housing, language, immigration, culture, ability/disability, and cost of a nutritious food basket ((Population Health Assessment and Surveillance Protocol, 1b)
    • The board of health shall analyze population health data and interpret the information to describe the distribution of health outcomes, preventive health practices, risk factors, determinants of health, and other relevant information to assess the overall health of its population.

     http://www.ontario.ca/publichealthstandards

     

    Corresponding Health Indicators from Statistics Canada and CIHI

    Households (renters, owners, and total) spending 30% or more of total household income on shelter expenses. Shelter expenses include payments for electricity, oil, gas, coal, wood or other fuels, water and other municipal services, monthly mortgage payments, property taxes, condominium fees and rent.

    http://www.statcan.gc.ca/

    On the search box, select "Tables"

    Type "Health Indicators" into search box
    Scroll down and click on the html version of "Health Indicators"
    Click on "Data tables, maps and fact sheets" and then housing affordability

     

    Corresponding Indicators from Other Sources
    • None

    Data Sources (see Resources: Data Sources)

    Numerator & Denominator: Census of Canada and National Household Survey 
    Original source: Statistics Canada
    Distributed by: Health Planning Branch, Ontario MOHLTC
    Suggested citation (see Data Citation Notes):Housing affordability estimates: Statistics Canada, [year] Census (20% sample)

     

    Survey Questions

    Derived variable in from Questions 52, H6 (a), (b), (c), H7, H8 (a), (c) and (f) [2006 Census]

     

    Alternative Data Sources
    • Statistics Canada, Health Indicators 
    Analysis Checklist 
    • The denominator is households "tenant-occupied" or "owner-occupied", which applies to all rented and owned households. Do not use the number of one-family households: owner one-family households or tenant one-family households.
    • Look under "Gross Rent as a Percentage of Household Income" or "Owner's Major Payments" in Census Dictionary.1   
     

    Method of Calculation

    Housing Affordability for Renters:

    number of tenant-occupied households spending 30%+ of income on gross rent

    x 100

    total households in rental units (tenant occupied private non-farm, non-reserve dwellings)

     
    Housing Affordability for Owners: 

    owner households spending 30% or more of household income on owner's major payments

    x 100

    total owned households (owned private dwellings)

     
    Housing Affordability (Total): 

    total number of households spending 30%+ of income on gross rent or owner's major payments

    x 100

    total owned and rental households

     
    Basic Categories
    • Tenant occupied dwellings (rented dwellings).
    • Owner-occupied dwellings (owned dwellings).
    • Geographic areas: health planning region, public health unit, census division, and census sub-division.
    Indicator Comments 
    • Households spending over 30% on housing may have inadequate funds for other necessities including food, clothing, transportation, and health care.
    • The 30% threshold is arbitrary.2,3 However, this ratio can be a valid and reliable quantitative indicator in housing research and analysis but may not be useful for all research questions.2
    • Because it is based on census data, this indicator may not adequately reflect housing affordability in areas with large changes in housing costs.
    • Determining housing affordability is complex. For example, some households may choose to spend more on housing because they feel they can afford to, while others may not have a choice.3
    • Household income is key, with low-income households tend to have more difficulty meeting shelter costs.3
    • Evaluation of household spending is more likely to give a complete picture of the cost burden of housing.3
    • Renters are more likely to experience affordability problems.3
    • Owners may have difficulty estimating the many components of shelter costs (e.g., mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities and maintenance costs).
    • Gross incomes are for the year preceding the census year.
    • Data since the 1996 Census data should not be compared with earlier censuses. In 1996, the "gross rent spending 30% or more" referred to all rental households (615,980 for Ontario) and "owner's major payments spending 30% or more" referred to all owned households (467,410 for Ontario). The appropriate denominator was "rented" (1,396,145) and "owned" (2,523,390) which corresponded to all rented and owned households. In 1991 and earlier years, the gross rent spending 30% or more referred to "tenant one-family households without additional persons", and the owner's major payments spending 30% or more referred to "owner one-family households without additional persons". As a result, earlier censuses applied to one-family households, not all households as the 1996 Census did. This change has been maintained in all the questionnaires since 1996
    • These data are not available for Band housing on Indian reserves, since this variable does not apply to this type of dwelling. For areas containing Indian reserves, analysis of housing affordability should only be done with this caveat explicitly noted.
    Definitions
    • None 

    Cross-References to Other Indicators

    • None
    Cited References 
    1. Statistics Canada [homepage on the Internet]. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 2006 Census Dictionary; 2010 Jul 6 [2013 Jan 7]. Available from: URL: http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/dict/index-eng.cfm.
    2. Hulchanski D. The concept of housing affordability: six contemporary uses of the housing expenditure-to-income ratio. Housing Studies; Oct95, Vol. 10 Issue 4, p471.
    3. Luffman J. Measuring housing affordability. Perspectives on Labour and Income. 2006;7(11):16-25. Statistics Canada catalogue no. 75-001-XIE. Available from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/11106/9519-eng.pdf.
    Changes Made
     

    Date

    Type of Review - Formal Review or Ad Hoc?

    Changes made by

    Changes

     

    Formal

    Social Determinants of Health Subgroup

    • New section on OPHS added
    • Corresponding Health Indicators from

    Statistics Canada and CIHI updated

    • Data source information updated to
    • Updated references
    • Added information about housing burden from references.
     
    Acknowledgements
     

    Lead Author(s)

    Ahalya Mahendra

    Contributing Author(s)

    Virginia McFarland, Luanne Jamieson, Bill Kou, Dinna Lozano, Cameron McDermaid

    Core Indicator Reviewers

    Jessica Deming

    External Reviewers

     

     
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