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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 7 : Housing and Mobility

One way that Census data may be used to measure crowding, and to assess whether or not a housing shortage is in evidence, is by measuring and comparing the number of persons per bedroom in households. Many households, of course, have one or fewer people per bedroom – in which case, the household may have “extra bedrooms” or bedrooms being used for other purposes. A house with one to two persons per bedroom is not necessarily overcrowded. But a house with more than two persons per bedroom almost certainly is, because it means that, somewhere, there are three or more persons sleeping in a single room, or else one or more persons sleeping in a room not intended to be used as a bedroom.

In non-Aboriginal households in Manitoba, 86% have one or less persons per bedroom, an additional 10% have two or less, and 4% have more than 2 persons per bedroom. The average non-Aboriginal household is less crowded than at any time in past history, and much less crowded than during the 1950-1970 “baby boom”.

By contrast, 59% of registered Indians have one or less persons per bedroom, 28% one to two, and 13% over two. The Metis numbers fall in between, actually closer to the non-Aboriginal than Status numbers: 78%, 16% and 6%.

All told, 10.3% of Manitoba’s Aboriginal people live in overcrowded conditions according to this definition, or 13,000 people (not households), of whom 10,000 are Status Indians. By the same definition, 35,000 non-Aboriginal people live in overcrowded conditions. Aboriginal people are three times more likely to be in this position, but part of this is the result of having younger and larger families.

In general, Winnipeg housing is slightly more crowded than outside Winnipeg, which reflects housing costs and the shelter cost “squeeze” described above. This is the case both for non-Aboriginal and Metis people. By contrast, among Status Indians, 10.4% live in households with more than two persons per bedroom in Winnipeg, 11.6% in off reserve situations outside Winnipeg, and 13.8% on reserve.

There is a very distinct north/south split. 14.5% of Aboriginal people in the north live in households with two or more persons per bedroom, compared to 5.8% in the south and 8.3% in Winnipeg. The apparent overcrowding of housing among Status Indians in the north applies in both on-reserve (14.8%) and off-reserve (17%) situations.