A growing number of Canadians have created online fundraising campaigns to help with monthly bills and essential needs, says major crowdfunding platform GoFundMe.
It’s a trend that experts say underlines the affordability crisis and weaknesses in the country’s social support system, as many Canadians struggle with rising expenses and high inflation.
For the essential needs category, almost 12,000 fundraisers have been started to date from January through April in 2026, a seven per cent increase year-over-year, GoFundMe spokesperson Aisha Vernon said in an email.
According to Vernon, “essential needs” include campaigns for rent, mortgage and utilities.
Campaigns between January and April related to monthly bills rose 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2025.
Monthly bills campaigns rose 15 per cent in 2025, said the spokesperson, making it one of the fastest-growing categories that year.
“This data ultimately reflects the growing challenges Canadians are facing and the ways communities are stepping up to support one another in times of need,” Vernon said.
Carolyn Whitzman, adjunct professor and senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto, said a lack of affordable housing across the country is a key factor driving the trend.
“There’s a growing amount of desperation, unfortunately, in Canadian households,” Whitzman said in a Zoom interview on Thursday.
“Canada is in the midst of a housing crisis,” Whitzman added. “People shouldn’t have to do individual fundraising events in order to have enough money to pay the rent and feed their children … so it’s a huge problem.”
Whitzman, author of “Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis,” said a rising number of people “are one paycheque away from homelessness.”
Some are falling behind on mortgage payments and find it tough to pay rent, she said.
About 4.5 million Canadians – or more than one in 10 people – lived below the poverty line in 2024, according to a Statistics Canada report published April 29.
The poverty line is based on the ability to afford basic goods and services, according to StatCan, and depends on household size and geography.
Mortgage delinquencies especially affected high-priced housing markets, rising 52 per cent in Ontario and 36 per cent in B.C. year-over-year, according to Equifax Canada’s first-quarter market pulse report on consumer credit trends released this week.
Whitzman said the affordability crisis is a systemic issue that all levels of government need to address.