APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS REPORT
A glossary defining key housing terms such as 'Core Housing Need', 'Assisted Living', and 'Secondary Rental Market' as used in the housing assessment.
APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS REPORT
Apartment in a flat or duplex – One of two dwellings, located one above the other, which may or may not be attached to other buildings. Generally, this refers to secondary suites (one unit) and main suites (another unit) within single-detached-type structures.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/dwelling-logements013-eng.cfm
Assisted Living – Services which provide housing, hospitality services and personal care services for adults who can live independently and make decisions on their own behalf but require a supportive environment due to physical and functional health challenges
Average – Average, or mean, is “the average value of all data in a set.”
Co-operative Housing – Co-operative housing provides at cost-housing to its members and is controlled by members who vote in decisions. There are three key components to co-operatives: housing remains affordable, a member’s tenure is secure as long as they follow the rules, and there is a strong sense of community. A housing co-operative is incorporated, and all assets are owned by the organization.
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/maintaining-and-managing/co-operative-housing-guide
Core Housing Need - “A household is said to be in 'core housing need' if its housing falls below at least one of the adequacy, affordability or suitability standards and it would have to spend 30% or more of its total before-tax income to pay the median rent of alternative local housing that is acceptable (meets all three housing standards).” Some additional restrictions apply.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/households-menage037-eng.cfm
Extreme Core Housing Need - "extreme core housing need" has the same meaning as core housing need except that the household has shelter costs for housing that are more than 50% of total before-tax household income.
http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/90_2019
Inadequate Housing – Housing adequacy is based on whether or not a home needs major repairs. If a home does require major repairs it is considered inadequate for long-term habitation unless these repairs are completed.
Median – “A median is middle value in a data set that has been arranged in numerical order so that exactly half the data is above the median and half is below it.” Using median instead of average helps to provide a more realistic picture by avoiding the effects of a skewed distribution or outliers.
Movable dwelling – Refers to mobile homes, as well as other dwellings used as a place of residence but capable of being moved on short notice, such as a tent, recreational vehicle, or houseboat.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/dwelling-logements013-eng.cfm
Multi-generational Housing – A household which contains three or more generations, and at least one census family.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-312-x/98-312-x2011001-eng.cfm
Non-Profit Housing – Units and buildings managed by not-for-profit housing societies, typically with rents at below market or very affordable rates.
Overhoused – A household occupying a housing unit with more bedrooms than are required for the size and make-up of their household according to National Occupancy Standard (NOS) requirements may be considered “overhoused”.
Operating Agreements – A contract, typically between BC Housing or CMHC and a non-profit housing society, which sets out the amount, duration and conditions of the subsidy provided for a project.
https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Expiring-Operating-Agreements.pdf
Primary Rental Market – The CMHC Rental Market Survey collects rental data for all communities of 10,000 or more in Canada. Their data focuses exclusively on the following rental types:
- Rental Apartment Structure: Any building containing three or more rental units, of which at least one unit is not ground oriented. Owner-occupied units are not included in the rental building unit count.
- Rental Row (Townhouse) Structure: Any building containing three or more rental units, all of which are ground oriented with vertical divisions. Owner-occupied units are not included in the rental building unit count. These row units in some centres are commonly referred to as townhouses.
Projections – Estimates of household growth and demographics change. All household projections in this report are based on Capital Regional District population projections, which estimate regional and municipal populations to 2038.
Secondary Rental Market – CMHC defines the Secondary Rental Market as containing the following housing types:
- Rented single-detached houses.
- Rented double (semi-detached) houses (i.e. Two units of approximate equal size and under one roof that are situated either side-by-side or front-to-back).
- Rented freehold row/town homes.
- Rented duplex apartments (i.e. one-above-other).
- Rented accessory apartments (separate dwelling units that are located within the structure of another dwelling type).
- Rented condominiums (can be any dwelling type but are primarily apartments).
- One or two apartments which are part of a commercial or other type of structure.
However, CMHC does not track the secondary rental market except in a few Canadian metropolitan areas.
Shelter Rates – Housing provided at income assistance or disability assistance shelter rates.
Supportive Housing - Services which provide housing and hospitality services for seniors and individuals with disabilities who can live independently. It does not include the additional level of support provided through personal care services, such as assistance activities of daily living and medication management, etc.
Unaffordable Housing – CMHC and Statistics Canada currently use a metric to measure and understand housing affordability for households in Canada: the 30% shelter cost-income ratio (STIR). This metric indicates that households spending more than 30% of their income on housing are likely to experience housing affordability challenges. Though easy to understand, it does not indicate if a household can afford basic non-housing expenses like food and transportation after paying for housing.
Unsuitable Housing or Underhoused - Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of resident households, according to National Occupancy Standard (NOS) requirements. Enough bedrooms based on NOS requirements means one bedroom for:
- each cohabiting adult couple;
- unattached household member 18 years of age and over;
- same-sex pair of children under age 18;
- and additional boy or girl in the family, unless there are two opposite sex children under 5 years of age, in which case they are expected to share a bedroom
- a household of one individual can occupy a bachelor unit (i.e. a unit with no bedroom).
Unsuitable housing is housing that does not meet any of these criteria for suitability.