Housing in High River is not meeting the needs of the community and that's causing stress.

That's one of the findings of a Housing Needs study done by Westwinds Communities.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says it's what the town is seeing too.

"There is a need, especially for one room or studio style accommodation," he says. "The challenge comes, how do we meet that need and who pays for it."

He says ideally developers will build them once the town shows them there's a need and if they don't it'll be up to the three levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal, to make it happen.

"It's a massive can of worms as to how you pay for it, do you have levels of government that are supportive of this social housing kind of project, so a lot of work and a lot of discussion that'll be coming in the future," he says.

The report's summary shows Renters are particularly struggling with affordability in High River with over 43 per cent of renters spending 30 per cent of their income on housing in 2016.

Over a third of owner households would struggle to buy today. Owner households earning below $55,944 would likely struggle to be able to afford ownership housing if they were to buy new today.

Lone-person households are growing. While couples without children (36% of households) and couples with children (27%) are the most common household types in High River, lone-person households are a growing share.

While most rental units have two to four bedrooms, the need for one-bedroom units is on the rise.

Mayor Snodgrass says the group behind the report did a great job looking at what the town has now and what it'll need in the future.