Tech Meets Tenancy: How Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Disrupting Canada’s Housing Accessibility Crisis

Canada’s housing market is at a crossroads, a mix of panic, politics, and policy recalibration. Among Canadians today, few topics spark as much debate as housing affordability and access, particularly in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Rising rent and homeownership costs have triggered major policy shifts in recent years, many centred around immigration and housing policy.

As home prices soften and the condo market tumbles, many Canadians are asking whether years of record immigration have caught up with an undersupplied housing system.

The growing demand for housing, combined with limited supply, has prompted the federal government to rethink immigration and student housing policies. Yet one key question persists: Is Canada’s housing crisis about shortage, affordability, or accessibility?

While all three factors matter, accessibility appears to be the most immediate challenge, especially for newcomers.

A joint study by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Statistics Canada, based on 2021 Census data, found that immigrants occupy more housing units, both owned and rented, than Canadian-born residents. On average, immigrants occupy 310 owned and 151 rental units per 1,000 people, compared with 397 units for Canadian-born individuals. Non-permanent residents, including work and study permit holders, occupy 41 owned and 316 rental units, totalling 357 units per 1,000 people.

Reports from CMHC and TD Bank indicate significant price corrections in the Toronto and Vancouver condo markets. CMHC noted a 13.4% decline in average resale condo prices in Toronto between 2022 and Q1 2025, while TD economists projected a 15% correction over the next couple of years.

In essence, while immigration contributes to housing demand, the data also highlights immigrants’ economic participation not just as occupants, but as investors, innovators, and market contributors.

For many newcomers, whether international students, temporary foreign workers, or recent permanent residents, the process of renting a home in Canada can be daunting. Despite having stable incomes or savings, they face persistent barriers. The problem isn’t just scarcity; it’s accessibility. Common challenges include:

• Lack of Canadian credit or rental history, which landlords often require.
• Upfront rent demands sometimes exceed legal limits.
• Discrimination, with racialized newcomers reporting higher bias.
• Language and legal barriers leave many unsure of their rights.
• Weak social networks are forcing reliance on short-term or costly accommodations.

As temporary residents continue to arrive, rental market pressures grow, highlighting the need for flexible and inclusive housing solutions.

When Nigerian tech entrepreneur Edeme Kelikume visited Toronto for the 2023 Collision Conference, he faced the same frustrations as thousands of newcomers.

“I tried to rent a place for just a few months but couldn’t,” he recalls. “Local documentation requirements and credit checks blocked me at every turn. After seven Airbnbs and countless rejections, I realized it wasn’t just my problem; it was a systemic issue. Thousands of newcomers, single parents, and families face the same thing.”

This experience inspired Tempho, an online platform connecting newcomers with short- and medium-term rentals. The platform bridges the gap between temporary housing and long-term rentals, simplifying settlement for immigrants, students, and temporary workers.

Hosts can list rooms or apartments with flexible terms, while newcomers access housing without traditional barriers like credit history or extensive documentation. Through verification tools, fair pricing, and a community-first model, Tempho is helping reshape Canada’s rental landscape.

To date, Tempho has housed over 500 newcomers, managed 200 rooms in the Peel Region, and paid over $2.5 million directly to landlords.

While the condo market struggles and rental affordability worsens, immigration should not be seen only as a pressure point. Yet the data and the innovation tell a different tale . Immigrants are innovators, and platforms like Tempho show how tech solutions and community participation can increase housing access, foster inclusion, and build stability.

Canada’s government continues to adjust immigration levels and housing supply through initiatives like study permit reforms and the Housing Accelerator Fund, such creative solutions could play a critical role in easing housing access, fostering inclusion, and reinforcing the idea that immigration is not merely a driver of population growth, but a source of resilience and ingenuity in addressing one of the nation’s most pressing challenges.

So perhaps the real question isn’t whether immigration is causing Canada’s housing gloom but whether Canada can harness immigrant ingenuity to lift it.