With rents and housing prices on the rise and growing waiting lists for housing assistance, governments have two strategies available for tackling housing unaffordability: they can build new social housing or they can offer subsidies to households living in private rentals.

As the number of households in housing need has risen, governments have been under pressure to find rapid solutions to the growing problem of unaffordable housing. Over the past decade, rental assistance programs like rent supplements and housing allowances that allow residents to access units in the private market have emerged as a popular response.

ONPHA’s latest release, “Making ends meet: Opportunities and challenges of rental assistance programs,” explores the rise of these types of programs in Ontario and their implications for residents and rental markets. The release is the fifth paper in ONPHA’s focusON research series, which examines key issues facing Ontario’s affordable housing system and presents a variety of perspectives.