A growing number of Canadians are worrying about mortgage and rent payments amid pandemic and many are holding out for the emergency aid promised by the federal government to keep them afloat.
A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute reports one-third of Canadians are worrying that their household will be late on mortgage or rent payments due to loss of work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angus Reid conducted an online survey from March 20 to 23, using a randomized sample size of 1,664 Canadian adults. The survey carried a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
“We wanted to ask people, because we’ve seen over the course of a number of surveys, the concern about personal finances was really rising in a broad sense,” said Dave Korzsinski, research associate.
The poll indicated that 44 per cent of people has had someone within their household lose work due to the pandemic. Within that group, a majority (66 per cent) said their employers were not covering any of their missing wages. Alberta appears to be the most affected at 50 per cent, but the survey shows at least one third of every province has been affected.
Many of those surveyed are living “in a precarious position financially,” with 34 percent worrying that their household would miss rent or mortgage payments. Many have already turned to borrowing money (32 per cent). One-in-ten were considering turning to payday loans to get by.
Almost a quarter of those surveyed indicated they personally lost hours or had been laid off due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Of those, the most disportionately affected were young people 18-24 at 45 percent. Other age demographics are less affected comparatively, but remain one-in-five for every under 65.
You can see the full survey report by the Angus Reid Institute here.