Manitoba Rent Assist in the Context of Canada’s National Housing Strategy

With CMHC’s support, Manitoba non-profit associations and academics came together to study Manitoba’s Rent Assist program. Rent Assist is a portable rental supplement program.

They studied:

• what is working
• what is not working
• what can be better

This Research Insight explores whether Manitoba’s Rent Assist program can help design a national rent subsidy program. The study included interviews with tenants, non-profit housing providers and private landlords throughout the province.

They found:

• Rent Assist has led to a significant increase in resources going to qualifying households.
• Rent Assist significantly helps people who are at risk of homelessness and lifts many families above the poverty line.
• Rent Assist enables people to enjoy better physical and mental health.
• CMHC data does not suggest Rent Assist is driving up rents in Manitoba, although some sources suggest that there may be impacts on the lowest -cost housing.
• Both private and non-profit landlords find Rent Assist to be an important tool in the provision of low-cost housing.
• The thresholds for people to qualify for Rent Assist are too low.
• Rent Assist is a tool to cover some, but not all, of the costs of providing affordable housing.
• There is a lack of awareness regarding non-social assistance Rent Assist, particularly outside of Winnipeg. This results in many potentially eligible households failing to benefit from Rent Assist.

Author:

CMHC

Document Type:

PDF

Date Published:

May 5, 2021