Hundreds of thousands moving to Calgary, making city unaffordable

globalnews.ca:

Calgarian Millie Winzinowich loves apartment hunting. And even when she’s found a place to live, she always tries to keep a finger on the pulse of the rental market.“I have always kind of prided myself in being able to find really gem apartments which are quite affordable, but also, you know, have a fun layout or some character,” Winzinowich, a 28-year-old theatre professional, told Global News.She and her common-law partner, a finance professional, had been in their apartment for less than a year when, earlier this year, their landlord informed them the unit had been sold, sending the couple on another apartment hunt.Winzinowich said that on paper, they were “quite appealing” rental candidates – a full-time, employed couple with no kids and one pet cat.

But those bona fides had little influence in their most recent search for a new place to live.“It was just insane. I’m always on (rental listing website) Rentfaster and stuff, so I knew that the market was crazy,” she said.Winzinowich attended most of the group showings.

Often a single listing had 400 applicants.“It also made you feel horrible because there’d be parents with two children and it was obviously the only (apartment) in their budget. And then you’d hear people with the owners, pleading for them to rent this place,” she said.Winzinowich’s situation isn’t unfamiliar to renters, but it seems to have worsened in recent months as Calgary’s housing market has heated up.The federal government’s expanded immigration targets has brought more people to Calgary looking for a place to live.