Rent and owner's major payments

Overview

This activity uses E-STAT to produce maps of Canada and your region showing average rent and owner's major payments. Students examine the number of households spending more than 30% of their income on housing.

Contributor: Trudy Hawthorne, Head, Family Studies, Haliburton Highlands Secondary School, Ontario.

---

Objectives

• To introduce students to retrieving and mapping census data from E-STAT
• To determine the average rent and owner's major payments across Canada
• To determine the number of people who are spending more than 30% of their gross income on housing

---

Suggested grade level and subject area

Secondary
Family Studies

---

Vocabulary

Census divisions — a general term for counties, regions or regional districts. These geographic areas are combined to form provinces.
Census subdivisions — a general term for municipalities, Indian reserves or settlements, and unorganized territories. Subdivisions are combined to form Census divisions.
Census of Population — a survey of all Canadians conducted every five years.
Characteristics — variables measured by the questions on the Census.

---

Materials

• Access to E-STAT, or if access to computers is limited, teacher-generated maps or tables.
• Student worksheet

---

Resources

Housing Costs and Other Characteristics of Canadian Households. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 93–330.

---

Classroom instructions

1. Students may work independently or in small groups, but all students should produce at least two maps.
2. Either discuss the activity as a class or mark individual assignments.

---

Enrichment

Ask students to estimate the minimum income required to rent or own a home in different regions.

---

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.