Rent has become an "enormous expenditure" for Calgary's poorest families, says the lead author of a new study from the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy.

"A lone parent in Calgary would need to be spending 70 per cent of their income on rent for a low-quality one-bedroom apartment," Ron Kneebone told the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday.

"If you take that same person in Montreal, than they're spending less than half that amount on rent," he said.

According to his report titled The Very Poor and the Affordability of Housing, Calgary is the most expensive city in Canada to live if you're a low-income earner — even more so than Vancouver.

"Vancouver has relatively more rental accommodations than Calgary does … There's no place to live in Calgary and as a result the price of low-end housing is really expensive," Kneebone said.

Different cities, different needs

As the federal Liberals develop a national housing strategy for Canada Kneebone hopes they take his report into consideration.

"One of the things we wanted to stress with this study is there is no national housing issue. There are housing issues in particular cities," said the professor of economics.

"What I'm afraid of the government doing is saying there is one solution that will fit every city. And our point is that there isn't."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener