Research Snapshot: Housing Shortage as a Driver for Family and Household Change

Key findings from a study on how rising housing costs and limited housing supply shaped families and households in large Canadian cities

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As rents rise in major metropolitan areas, more people, especially young adults, are unable to live alone or start a separate household. Instead, they often remain in their parental homes, live with roommates, or enter into other complex household forms.

This study explains how material conditions and cultural expectations have interacted to influence and limit people’s choices around family and household arrangements.

This research builds on our growing understanding of the Family Wellbeing component of the Vanier Institute’s Family Diversities and Wellbeing Framework.

Lauster, N., & von Bergmann, J. (2025, February 12). The new rules: Housing shortage as an explanation for family and household change across large metro areas in Canada, 1981–2021. The History of the Family. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2024.2448986