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Written By
Steve Tustin
Mar 24, 2025
•Housing
For newcomers and international students arriving in Canada renting a room in a home can be an affordable housing option. Most arriving newcomers seek a short-term rental, and then search for a longer-term rental. Many also consider sharing accommodation with others as a cost-effective option. But there is another solution for newcomers: home-sharing, or renting a room. Discover how renting a room in Canada can be a great solution for renters and homeowners!
Home-sharing is not new to Canada. For example, other home-sharing programs focus on helping students find affordable accommodation or keeping seniors living and aging in place.
Sparrow, a Canadian home-sharing platform helps immigrants explore and find rooms for rent and home-share solutions. It also looks to enlist newcomer homeowners as hosts. To achieve this, Sparrow has teamed with Prepare for Canada to make hosts, and rooms, available to newcomers.
This Sparrow-Prepare for Canada initiative provides immigrants and international students with accommodation sharing, another alternative to apartments, condos, or house renting. “We need to make it easier and safer for newcomers to find good housing options in Canada,” said Oren Singer, co-founder and CEO of Sparrow. “There’s a ton of underutilized housing space in the form of spare rooms and basements.”
“With the cost of living so high these days, many homeowners turn to home-sharing to supplement income.” The rooms-for-newcomers project is timely and affordable.
Though rental prices and vacancy rates are now easing across Canada, affordable housing remains an issue for many newcomers arriving each month.
“We need to make it easier and safer for newcomers to find good housing options in Canada.”
Oren Singer, Co-founder and CEO, Sparrow
“We’re proud to collaborate with Prepare for Canada to help connect and match newcomers to places they can call home,” says Singer.
Sparrow’s home-sharing platform matches hosts with spare bedrooms to newcomers and international students seeking affordable rooms for rent in Canada. The company also sees its business as building social connections and increasing the quality of life for Canadians.
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REGISTER FOR THE WEBINARIn addition to the demand and competition for affordable rentals, rental prices remain high, particularly in popular destinations for newcomers like Toronto and Vancouver.
In February 2025, a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver cost $2,522 a month, while a one-bedroom in Toronto was $2,353. Even a one-bedroom in Saskatoon, one of Canada’s most affordable cities for rent prices, was $1,217 monthly. Homeshare rents, at approximately $964 a month, are significantly cheaper.
“Basements or rooms for rent on the Sparrow platform are more affordable than the average studio or 1-bedroom rental rates,” says Singer.
“We’ve been helping newcomers make connections that simplify the immigration journey for over 12 years,” says Dave Frattini, managing partner of Prepare for Canada and Rentals for Newcomers. “Sparrow is a purpose-driven home-sharing platform and community that makes renting a room easy, safe, and affordable.”
“Together, we’re on a mission to help newcomers enter the rental market faster and easier. We connect newcomers with homeowners to help them find safe and affordable housing. We look forward to connecting with homeowners who want to build this innovative housing solution for newcomers.”
Sparrow’s rigorous matching and identity verification process ensures safety and security. Its matching process involves background checks, home share agreements, and screening interviews. Sparrow also matches based on compatibility to enable better connections based on habits, lifestyles, and living preferences. Newcomer homeowners and renters can sign up here.
Sparrow does credit and background checks to match people based on compatibility. Hosts can list their rooms for rent and create a FREE profile. Sparrow charges the host a fee when they receive the first rental payment from the housemate. Housemates do not pay Sparrow fees.
Anyone who becomes a host should check with their insurance company to see if they need additional coverage for home-sharing.
The host service fee (a one-time only fee) depends on the length of the home share contract and ranges from 25 – 100% of one month’s rent, for example:
| HOMESHARE TERM LENGTH | FEE (% OF ONE MONTH RENT) |
|---|---|
| 1 – 3 months | 25% |
| 4 – 5 months | 50% |
| 6 – 9 months | 75% |
| 10 – 12 months | 100% |
The lack of affordable housing for renters, plus population growth and inflation, inspired homeowner Karen H. to become a Sparrow host. “I decided I could pay it forward by helping somebody get in a space to live at a reasonable price.”
Karine S., who rents a room from Karen in Toronto, said that initially, she didn’t know about the Sparrow concept of housemates and renting a room. She said she was hesitant at first because of previous issues with roommates.
“I was a little bit wary going into this,” she said, “but the thing that clarified it for me was finding a compatible match (Karen).”
Watch the video to learn about Karen’s successful home-sharing experience!
Sparrow estimates there are over 12 million empty bedrooms across Canada.
A Canada Centre for Economic Analysis report estimates more than half of residents, and three-quarters of those over 65, live in houses bigger than they need. This is five million spare bedrooms across the province.
“We have an opportunity and responsibility to reimagine how we use and share our housing space,” says the Sparrow website. The company also notes that one in five Canadian renters spends more than half their income on shelter costs.
In addition to housemates, Sparrow and Prepare for Canada are looking for hosts to meet the demand for accommodation sharing. Renting out a spare room and welcoming housemates can help homeowners deal with rising expenses.
For newcomers and international students seeking a room to rent and share accommodation, this is a safe and affordable housing option, and a chance to make a lifelong friend!
WRITTEN BY
Steve Tustin
Senior Editor, Prepare for Canada
Steve Tustin is the Editor for Rentals for Newcomers and a contributing editor for Prepare for Canada. He is also the former managing editor of Storeys.com and a former senior editor at the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.
© Prepare for Canada 2025
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