Affordable Nanaimo Rent? Says Who?

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Defining Affordable Nanaimo Rents— And Other Tricky Questions

Before Nanaimo pre-zones thousands of properties in the name of housing, perhaps Council should first define what “affordable” actually means.

Before Nanaimo City Council starts pre-zoning thousands of properties in the name of “social” or “subsidized” housing, perhaps the first question should be the simplest one:

What does affordable actually mean?

Not affordable to a planner. Not affordable to a developer. Not affordable on a spreadsheet at City Hall.

Affordable to a real person trying to live in Nanaimo.

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The common affordability test used by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is that housing should cost less than 30% of a household’s before-tax income.

In B.C., the current minimum wage is $18.25 an hour as of June 1, 2026. A single person working full-time at 40 hours a week earns about $37,960 a year before tax, or roughly $3,163 a month.

Thirty per cent of that is $949 a month.

The real affordability number for a single full-time minimum-wage worker in Nanaimo is:

$949 per month

Now put that number against the cost of even a bachelor apartment.

CMHC’s 2025 rental data for Nanaimo shows the average rent for a studio apartment at $1,244, and a one-bedroom at $1,527. Even the bachelor unit is already well above what a minimum-wage worker can afford under the 30% test.

Test	Monthly Rent	Share of Gross Minimum-Wage Income
True 30% affordability level	$949	30%
CMHC Nanaimo studio average	$1,244	39%
CMHC Nanaimo one-bedroom average	$1,527	48%
BC Housing 2026/27 bachelor or one-bedroom limit for Nanaimo	$1,600	51%

BC Housing’s 2026/27 rent affordability limit for Nanaimo lists $1,600 for a bachelor or one-bedroom unit, using CMHC median rent levels by area and unit size.

That may qualify under a program definition. But for a single minimum-wage worker, it is not affordable. It consumes more than half of gross income before taxes, food, transportation, phone, insurance, medicine, clothing, or utilities.

This Is Why “20% Below Market” Needs Scrutiny

Nanaimo’s proposed pre-zoning policy refers to units being offered at 20% below market rent.

That sounds good until one asks the obvious question:

What is market?

If market rent is already unaffordable, then 20% below market may still be unaffordable. A discount on a rent a person cannot afford does not magically turn it into affordable housing.

For example, 20% below a $1,600 rent is $1,280. That is still about 40% of a full-time minimum-wage worker’s gross income.

So the real question is not whether the rent is below market.

The real question is: affordable to whom?

And Then Come The Other Tricky Questions

Who determines “market rent”?

Is it based on bachelor units, one-bedroom units, new buildings, old buildings, occupied rents, vacant asking rents, or city-wide averages?

Does it include utilities, parking, storage, or other monthly charges?

How often is the rent recalculated?

Does the so-called affordable rent rise as market rent rises?

Are tenants selected by income, or simply by whoever qualifies under the developer’s rental process?

How long is the discount locked in?

Who enforces it?

And what exactly is the City giving away in exchange?

Because City Hall is not asking developers to provide these units out of goodwill. The proposed pre-zoning would give selected properties access to extra height, extra density, and reduced rezoning risk.

That has real financial value.

Points To Ponder

If Nanaimo is going to grant extra height and density in exchange for “affordable” units, taxpayers deserve to know whether the public benefit is real, measurable, enforceable, and actually affordable to people who live and work here.

“Twenty per cent below market” is not an affordability test if the market itself is unaffordable.

Before Council calls this “affordable housing,” Nanaimo taxpayers deserve plain-language answers:

What is affordable? Who is it affordable for? Who defines the market? Who gets the units? Who enforces the rules? And what public value is being traded away?

Until those questions are answered, “20% below market” is not an affordability test.

It is a discount off an already unaffordable market.

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Sources:
CMHC affordability definition: CMHC — Affordable Housing in Canada
B.C. minimum wage: Government of B.C. — Minimum Wage
BC Housing rent affordability limits: BC Housing — 2026/27 Rent Affordability Limits