Housing Canada's Youth

As societies became urbanized and industrialized, young people left the parental home when the time came to marry or establish a family. In the 1960s and 1970s when the economy was growing and values changing rapidly, young people generally left their parents to live alone or to share accommodation.This behavior, which both reflected and stimulated increased construction of apartments, took on increasing importance as a dimension, or even symbol, of the process of acquiring maturity, even though significant ethnocultural variations among young people persist. However, in the 1990s, young people under 30 are leaving the parental home later than they did 15 years ago, because prolongated studies combined with restructuring of the job market are such that they are less certain to earn an income that is stable and high enough to support a household. (excerpt from the document)

Publication Date: 
1996