Acceptable housing of private household

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on February 10, 2026.

Definition

Acceptable housing refers to whether a household meets each of the three housing standards established by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for housing adequacy, suitability and affordability.

Housing standards are assessed using three indicators, which are defined as follows:

- Adequate housing is reported by residents as not requiring any major repairs.

- Affordable housing has shelter costs of less than 30% of total before-tax household income.

- Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of resident households according to the National Occupancy Standard (NOS), conceived by CMHC and provincial and territorial representatives.

This classification identifies which standards the household does not meet, if any. Housing that is adequate in condition, suitable in size and affordable is considered to be acceptable.

All private households are assessed for housing adequacy and suitability. Housing affordability is assessed for owner and tenant households with household total income greater than zero in non-farm, non-reserve private dwellings. When households not assessed for housing affordability meet both the suitability and adequacy standards, they are considered to be in acceptable housing.

Private household refers to a person or group of persons who occupy the same dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada or abroad. The household universe is divided into two sub-universes on the basis of whether the household is occupying a collective dwelling or a private dwelling. The latter is a private household.

Usage

The population of study includes all private dwellings.

The concept of acceptable housing was originally defined by CMHC.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

There are no relevant internationally recognized standards.

Classifications

• Classification of acceptable housing February 10, 2026 to current

Additional information

The NOS was developed by CMHC through consultations with provincial housing agencies in the 1980s.

See:

• Dwelling condition of private dwelling
• Housing suitability of private household
• Private dwelling
• Shelter-cost-to-income ratio of private household

Relation to previous version

• Acceptable housing of private household February 10, 2026 to current

  This is the current standard.