A national survey conducted by Rentals.ca reveals a significant disconnect between the housing policies Canadian renters say they support and the political parties they intend to vote for. When asked to select which housing policies they favour without being told which party proposed them, renters consistently chose ideas across the political spectrum and often backed policies from parties they weren’t planning to support.

Creating national rent control was the policy that garnered the most support, with 50 per cent of respondents decidedly in favour. However, only 13  per cent of those indicated that they intend to vote for the NDP. In contrast, 39 per cent of rent control supporters plan to vote Liberal, and 26 per cent plan to vote Conservative, neither of which have included national rent control in their platforms.

Similarly, 29 per cent of survey respondents said they support public housing as a top policy, which the NDP, Liberals, and Green Party all include in their housing platforms.  Among those who support the idea, 46 per cent said they plan to vote Liberal, 21 per cent Conservative, and only 16 per cent NDP.

A third policy—eliminating GST on homes under $1.3 million, a staple in the Conservative Party platform—also emerged as popular among renters. But the alignment was inconsistent, with 39 per cent of supporters planning plan to vote Liberal and just 31 per cent planning to vote Conservative.

According to Rentals.ca, these findings reflect a broader trend of renters prioritizing policy outcomes over party affiliation. When later shown which party proposed which policy, renters had already formed their views independent of political branding. Across both Rentals.ca surveys, party preferences remain closely split, with 30 per cent of renters planning to vote Conservative, 28 per cent Liberal, and 28 per cent still undecided.

The results suggest that renters could be a key swing demographic in today’s federal  election, driven more by policy effectiveness than party loyalty.