A recent Metro Vancouver staff report contains disturbing figures about the extent of the housing problem in the region.

According to the report, written by senior housing planner Janet Kreda, a total of 55,765 households are at risk of being homeless.

Although one might assume that an overwhelming majority of these family units are renters, this isn’t the case. Some 24,470, or 44 percent, of these at-risk households are actually homeowners. The rest—31,295, or 56 percent—are tenants.

Although her report focuses on renters, Kreda acknowledged in a phone interview that the uncertain situation facing some property owners may merit future examination.

“People tend to say that homeowners have more choices and flexibility,” Kreda told the Georgia Straight. “One concern would be, of course, that the rental market is tight enough. If some of them are not able to stay in ownership, that would increase the pressure on the rental market.”

The housing planner noted that Canadian lending institutions have done a much better job of screening mortgage applicants compared with American financial companies, which were largely blamed for the U.S. housing crisis.

But Kreda isn’t inclined to suggest bailouts, noting that “ownership isn’t for everybody.”

In her paper, Kreda shows a strong correlation between income and the threat of being out on the street. Of the vulnerable households, almost half—or 25,535—earned between $10,000 and $19,999 a year. Another 14,525 family units had incomes ranging from $20,000 to $29,999.

Included in the July 23 agenda of Metro Vancouver’s housing committee, the report defines an at-risk household as one that spends at least 50 percent of its gross income on shelter.

“These households are considered to be ”˜one paycheck away from homelessness’ and therefore ”˜at risk’ of homelessness because of a precarious and unsustainable housing situation,” Kreda wrote. The paper utilized data from the 2006 census and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The report noted that all of the at-risk renters studied have an annual income of less than $50,000, and that 95 percent of them earn below $30,000. The average at-risk renter household in 2006 spent 70 percent of its income on shelter, leaving only $460 a month to cover other expenses, including food and clothing.

Women bear a heavy burden in keeping a roof over the heads of their family members. More than half (52 percent) of at-risk-renter households have women as the principal income earner. Some 86 percent of lone-parent family units in danger of being homeless are led by single moms.

Individuals who aren’t raising families are also facing the prospect of homelessness. An estimated 55 percent of at-risk renters are single-person households.

A majority of at-risk tenants (62 percent) range in age from 25 to 54.

Kreda recommended that the Metro Vancouver board ask the provincial government to expand its rental-assistance program. Launched in 2006, the program covers families with annual incomes of no more than $35,000. They must have at least one dependent child, possess assets worth less than $100,000, and spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. These households should not be receiving income assistance from the government. In the Lower Mainland, families with three members or fewer can receive a maximum of $653 in monthly benefits from the program. A family of four or more can get $765.

Kreda stated that in 2009, some 4,752 households in Metro Vancouver received support from this rental-assistance program. However, she also noted that it is not known how many of these households are made up of at-risk renters.

Kreda likewise explained that of the 31,295 at-risk-renter households, some 24,600 are working-class families that are not receiving income assistance from the government. Only 5,800, or 24 percent, meet the criteria of the rental-assistance program.

“The remaining 75 percent were households with singles, families with children older than 18, without children and non-family households,” Kreda wrote. The housing planner didn’t provide an estimate as to how much it would cost to provide rental assistance to these groups.

However, she underscored in the interview that investments to prevent people from ending up on the street are more affordable than dealing with more homelessness further down the road.