June 1, 2026, Waterloo, Canada –Caribbean-Canadian families are 18 times more likely than white families to spend half or more of their income on housing, according to a new report from the CanAfro Research Institute.

The study also finds that university-educated African-Canadians face a 56% higher rate of underemployment than white peers with the same degrees. Using Statistics Canada data, the report shows that housing stress, lack of credit, and job barriers reinforce each other, creating traps that financial literacy programs cannot fix.

Researchers call for binding reforms: allowing rent payments to count toward credit scores, targeting housing subsidies to high-need neighborhoods, funding foreign credential recognition, and mandating race-based reporting of bank loan denials. “This is not individual failure,” stated the report. “It is systemic exclusion.”