On this page
This web page is intended to help you find information on urban housing policy. If you need help, please contact Nina Smart, Liaison Librarian, at ( ) or . In addition, assistance with microdata queries is available at data-services@sfu.ca.
Government and association sites
Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM)
"a common voice for local government"
Start with their Housing policy page for an overview of federal and provincial government initiatives - includes policy papers and resources
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
Canada's national housing agency, including:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
Think tank, with housing reports and studies such as:
- Upzoning Metro Vancouver’s Low-density Neighbourhoods for Housing Affordability (February 2022)
- How to build affordable rental housing in Vancouver (March 2021)
Conference Board of Canada
their Metropolitan Research section has topics such as metropolitan housing starts by the month, quarterly metropolitan outlooks for major cities. Some reports require creating an account (and others are very expensive, but you can always ask me)
Canadian Rental Housing Index
"compiled using data from the 2016 long-form census, obtained through a Statistics Canada custom data request"
Developed by the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and VanCity
Metro Vancouver
"federation of 21 municipalities, one Electoral Area and one Treaty First Nation that collaboratively plans for and delivers regional-scale services"
Housing Policy Review Summary
Centre for Urban and Community Studies (University of Toronto) Archived site
see also UofT's School of Cities with City Research Insights
Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate (UBC)
Discussion paper (scroll down past Research)
Statistics and microdata
Start with: What is the difference between Data and Statistics? Michigan State University
Statistics
Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
producing "accurate, up-to-date information and analysis on economic issues"
Housing Market Stats section includes Monthly Stats, national and regional statistics, and the National Price Map
Royal LePage Market Reports and Surveys
Includes the quarterly House Price Survey, regional market/city surveys
Statista
A portal of downloadable statistics. Sample Search: Vancouver housing
Examples: Residential Housing in Canada (Dossier) and
Rental vacancy rates in British Columbia 2000 to 2021 (Graph based on CMHC information)
CHASS
(Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences) Data Centre, University of Toronto
Census and financial information
Bank of Canada
"Canada's central bank"
Real Estate Market (based on StatsCan and CMHC tables) and Historical Data
Statistics Canada: Housing Statistics
including CMHC Housing Data Tables
example: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, average rents for areas with a population of 10,000 and over
(Table: 34-10-0133-01, formerly CANSIM 027-0040)
Related video: Housing Now: How New Census Data Will Shape the Canadian Housing Landscape UBC's Housing Research Collaborative
Canda Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
Including:
- Housing markets, data and research
- Housing in Canada Online (HiCO)
- CMHC Data Tables such as Housing Market Indicators, Rental Market Data
Housing Data BC Housing
Homelessness
Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
"largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada"
Their Homeless Hub includes Publications such as The State of Homelessness in Canada (latest 2016) and a section on Policy Briefs
2020 Homeless Count in Metro Vancouver and 2018 Youth Homeless count (MetroVancouver, their latest)
Homeless Count (City of Vancouver) 2020
Homeless Counts (BC Housing) 2020 and 2021 listings by communities
Outside of Canada
International House Price Database
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Data Planet
"public, private and commercial sources of standardized and structured statistical data" many American resources - for instance Zillow Real Estate Metrics - but Canadian content being added constantly
Microdata
Abacus Data Network
Research data repository run by the British Columbia Research Libraries' Data Services
For Data and GIS questions send contact our data team at data-services@sfu.ca
Books, reports and government documents
Books
Still renovating: a history of Canadian social housing policy [online and print]
Houses and homes: housing for Canadians [print]
Canadian urban regions: trajectories of growth and change [print]
In defense of housing: the politics of crisis [print]
Building a co-operative community in public housing: the case of the Atkinson Housing Co-operative [print and online] Chapter 1 "Canadian Public Housing Policy and Programs"
Municipal-federal-provincial relations in Canada [print]
Gentrification [print and online]
Other recommended titles:
Neoliberal housing policy: an international perspective [print and online]
Remaking housing policy: an international study [print and online]
The Routledge handbook of housing policy and planning [online]
You can find more monographs in the Catalogue under Subjects such as:
Housing policy -- Canada
Housing policy -- British Columbia -- Vancouver
Housing policy -- Canada -- History
Housing -- Canada
Homelessness -- Canada
Gentrification
For Canadian and international government and think tank reports: Policy Commons
Further resources and tools
- Finding book reviews and writing book reviews (SFU Library)
- Giving effective presentations (SFU Student Learning Commons)
- Resources to help you improve your presentation skills (SFU Library)
- How to write an annotated bibliography (SFU Library)
- Writing services offered by the Research Commons including writing consultations and the Read Ahead service, which does cover policy-writing assignments
- Policy Writing (SFU Library Public Policy) Suggestions and examples for writing policy briefs and memos
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