For most Canadians, owning a home is an unattainable fairytale that one can only dream of. Homeownership is viewed as a thing of the past and an unrealistic goal for younger generations. The cost of living in Canada has been on a sharp incline due to post-pandemic inflation, expensive taxes, and exponentially high interest rates, making only 26% of Canadians able to afford a single-family home in 2023, according to a Toronto Star article. In Vancouver, a one-bedroom apartment costs on average $2592 to rent in 2024, according to Rent Seeker, a website that compares housing prices across Canada. This is a vast difference from the $774 it would have cost in 2004 according to historical statistics of Canadian housing prices. The skyrocketing nature of housing prices in recent years has had inadvertent implications that have been swept under the rug for far too long. Aside from all of the direct negative effects one would assume unaffordability breeds, the housing crisis has also exacerbated domestic abuse instances in Canada, especially a certain kind of abuse; financial abuse. This specific kind of abuse encompasses many ways in which it can be presented in relationships, starting innocently with arguments over finances and leading to issues like fraud and theft, rendering victims unable to leave the abusive situations due to dependence on the abuser financially and emotional manipulation. The housing crisis has given the ‘heads of households’  too much power over their families and assets causing an increase in financial abuse throughout Canada and consequently increasing patriarchal financial gaps and power imbalances within heterosexual relationships. All of these issues cumulatively are disproportionately affecting minorities, especially Indigenous and immigrant women due to the values Canadian culture pushes on women of colour. The increase in the regularity of domestic abuse has warranted the need for more awareness about the often undiscussed and misunderstood types of abuse within families. 

Arguments about finances are common in many families however, with the intensity of rising house costs these seemingly innocent arguments can escalate into abusive situations at an alarmingly fast rate, creating more cases of domestic abuse than ever before. Factors like unemployment, financial strain, and economic disadvantages can be catalysts for violence that surround instability with income and payments. Coupled with the increasingly more prevalent fear of eviction, not meeting payments, and homelessness many Canadian citizens feel the pressure of, it is inevitable that those factors will heighten the emotions in any situation often manifesting as frustration and resentment within household dynamics. Even more seriously, the stress of instability within a family dynamics can contribute to the decline of mental health with issues like anxiety and depression, which can affect relationships on entirely new levels. In an article posted by the National Library of Medicine, they show a few studies with alarming statistics that draw a direct correlation between financial instability and poor mental health. For example, the prevalence of mental health issues among American adults increased by 24% in 2018, this percentage increase directly reflects the increase in financial instability among adults, with 37% of adults admitting that they struggle with short-term liquidity needs in 2019. These heightened emotions coupled with the rising cost of living created by the housing crisis, are directly affecting the rise in domestic violence. A study conducted in 2009 by The National Institute of Justice showed that 2.7% of women who experience low to no financial strain will experience violence within their relationship which is a sharp contrast to the 9.5% of women who experience high financial strain who are in violent relationships. Considering that this study is outdated, and taking into account how much more expensive living has become in the past 15 years, this statistic is most likely a severe underestimation of the current state of low-income families that experience domestic abuse. These statistics are not a coincidence, in the world we live in where money can buy stability, safety, and health, it is clear to understand that tension over income or rent can be a primary stressor within relationships, so stressful that they can be an abuser’s gateway into acting on violent urges with their families; usually their partners. These statistics show that rising house costs have a direct correlation to the rate at which women are found in abusive situations. 

Economically women are often at a disadvantage in finances and income which makes financial abuse a common tactic for abusers in attempting to control their victim in deeper ways than just physical or emotional, an article by Sage Journals states that this type of abuse is not just about money, but instead about control and power. This is how financial abuse differs from arguing over money; the money aspect is no longer the aim of financial abuse. As this concept can be confusing, Sage Journals offers to define financial abuse as any tactics used by an abuser that reduce a victim’s ability to have control over shared or personal assets and finances. This type of abuse is perpetuated through manipulation, intimidation, and threats to keep the victim powerless and unable to leave the abusive situation they are in. Being unsure of where you will go after leaving an abusive situation makes it hard to leave, and the exponential increase in housing prices does not make leaving abusive relationships any easier, especially when a victim’s partner has withheld them for their financial history. According to CTV News, rising inflation, scarcity of affordable housing, food prices, and strained assistance programs all work to make it nearly impossible for abuse victims to get the help they need to leave their relationships. The National Network to End Domestic Violence uses the example of financial abuse as something as simple as the abuser being in charge of the household’s finances and withholding that information from their partner. Commonly, disputes surrounding child support with the abusers refusing to pay is a form of financial abuse due to how it puts the child’s primary caregiver, often their mother,  at an even lower economic disadvantage by having them take on the burden of having to pay all of the expenses to maintain the child. The subtlety of financial abuse is what makes it so hard to detect until the victim is in too deep. In more severe cases of financial abuse where the tactics become more direct, the abuser might forbid their partner from working, create large amounts of debt on shared accounts, or even, in extreme cases, steal the victim’s property or inherence. Although this sounds intense, it is far more frequent than people tend to imagine, this can be due to the sneaking nature of the abuser, making the victim often not even realize that they are being abused or held in a bad situation. Financial abuse is abundant in our society with a 2011 article by the University of Wisconsin-Madison citing a recent study that showed that 99% of domestic violence cases include some form of financial abuse. With the exponential rise in housing costs in Canada, it makes it much easier for abusers to entrap their victims. When a person is victimized through financial abuse, it often renders them financially unstable and vulnerable due to their lack of input or knowledge on their financial situations. This vulnerability is more prevalent now than ever due to expensive housing, with the victim not only unable to leave their abusive situation for emotional reasons but also unable to leave because they simply have no place they can afford to go. This has been a problem for decades but it is more important than ever before to recognize the victims of financial abuse and put structures such as safe women’s housing in place to help those who are financially unstable and need to escape abuse. 

Particularly vulnerable groups such as Indigenous and immigrant women are disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis and frequently become victims of domestic abuse due to social and cultural influences that are perpetuated by a lack of awareness for the unique situations women of colour can be in. Countless studies show that the heightened vulnerability of these groups often leads to abuse and homelessness. A legal document from the Supreme Court of the United States of America, United States v. Bryant, surrounding the even present mistreatment of Indigenous women, states that Indigenous women in the United States of America are disproportionately abuse victims. In Indigenous communities such as reservations, the housing provided does not meet the basic standards of decent living which causes many communities to become financially insatiable leading to more susceptibility to exploitation financially, especially for the women. Another article by Sage Journals, which deals with Immigrant women and domestic violence, states that information and statistics on domestic violence among immigrants are mostly non-existent which suggests Canada’s willful neglect towards immigrant women’s well-being and value in society. This lack of statistical evidence does not mean that it doesn’t exist; there have been many calls to action to get statistics on this particular topic due to how prevalent it is for so many new Canadians, yet still, the research is not available. Additionally, immigrants have many hurdles they must overcome to become financially stable in Canada, these hurdles include language barriers and unfamiliarity with the legal systems of a new country, which makes them vulnerable to many types of abuse, especially financial abuse. These disadvantages exist through a myriad of factors including the system of racism within Canada and inaccessible housing. Many cultural norms in Canada discourage any discussion about unsafe family situations and often turn a blind eye to women of colour who experience these domestic hardships, instead pushing the idea of ‘the perfect family’ at all costs, which makes the victims of abuse hesitant and often powerless to be able to come forward and try to seek help in getting out of domestic abuse. Even if abuse victims do come forward and try to escape their situations, there is not a proper infrastructure to give these victims the support they need. As a whole, Canada needs to make an effort to address both the housing crisis and its effect on domestic abuse by providing our citizens with cultural, familial, and tailored services that target the injustices that are perpetuated by unaffordability in this country.  

It is important to recognize the inadvertent implications the housing crisis has had on victims of abuse, particularly the concept of financial abuse and its effect on women on Indigenous and immigrant women especially. The housing crisis has had no benefits to the general public and has only created more unrest within the culture of Canada’s society. The stark increase in homelessness and financial instability goes hand in hand with the rising cost of living and directly correlates with domestic abuse cases. It is crucial to make efforts to combat the housing crisis and its effect on domestic abuse. Particularly, spreading awareness about the issue and providing people with the language and knowledge that they need to be able to detect financial abuse in friends, family members, and their own relationships. Knowledge is power, and giving victims the vocabulary and understanding they need to recognize the severity of their situations can save so many women and children who are enduring all facets of abuse. Specifically, understanding the early signs of financial abuse such as withholding financial information or providing ‘allowances’ to the victims, is crucial in saving victims from financial abuse before the situation becomes too severe that they have no way to leave. Advocating and donating to organizations such as local women’s shelters will help provide these organizations with the tools they need to give proper support to victims of domestic abuse. The best thing Canadians can do to protect their country from domestic abuse is to speak on the issues at hand and spread awareness.