Cost of living pushes attainable housing further out of reach

The high price of real estate, the pandemic, and inflation are all said to be factors in a growing attainable housing crisis. First-time home ownership was once the primary reason for freeing up rental housing but with the current market, people are finding they have diminishing opportunities for home ownership and are hanging on to their rentals, causing a lack of options in an already limited supply.

“Limited housing supply, pandemic-related factors, and changing demographics have resulted in skyrocketing housing prices across the province,” states the Ontario Real Estate Association. “Ontario home prices have tripled in the last 10 years, but average household incomes have increased only 30 per cent. According to a recent affordability report from the National Bank of Canada, it would take 26.5 years – or 318 months – for a Toronto resident (making $195,000) to save a down payment on an average priced home in the city.”

Although people may be looking for opportunities, the problem is nationwide, and beyond. The Canadian Real Estate Association recently reported that housing prices have reached another record high, with the average price of a home reaching $874,100 – a 27.1 per cent increase over the last year.

Rebecca Murray and her partner live in a small two-bedroom apartment in Stayner with their two sons. They longed to have access to a yard, windows in the living room and to not have to rely on a landlord to make repairs and ensure a good standard of living.

They recently started looking into trying to find a bigger apartment but couldn’t find anything appropriate for a family with two small children for under $2,000 per month.

“It was pretty bleak out there,” said Murray. “It was slim pickings in terms of what we could afford.”

They looked at an apartment in Collingwood that was listed for $1,450, plus utilities.

“It didn’t even have a stove,” said Murray. “It was basically a hallway with a couple bedrooms and a hotplate, and that was the cheapest place we found.”

She said she is aware of bidding wars on apartments, some landlords asking for several month’s rent in advance, and this is for two-bedroom apartments that are already going for $2,500 to $3,000 per month.

Murray said there was little selection in Stayner but even in Collingwood, there wasn’t anything affordable that would get them a bit more space, access to laundry, a yard, and a place where they would be allowed to keep their pets.

She said she had to keep a close eye on listings, looking for something in their price range, but even then some places were pretty sketchy.

“It was pretty rough,” said Murray.

That’s when the family made the decision to apply to Habitat for Humanity, which was accepting applications for its newest build, now underway in Stayner.

“With how the market is and how the prices of things are going the only way we would be able to afford a house with a mortgage was to apply.”

She said she is happy to be able to stay in Stayner, where they have family, and where their two boys will have access to a yard.

At the new Habitat for Humanity house, the family will have everything they hoped to find in housing under one roof – three bedrooms, more living space and a nice yard but best of all the mortgage payments are geared to their income so that only 25 per cent goes to pay for housing.

Habitat for Humanity South Georgian Bay executive director Joy Fleury says the lack of housing supply has become a crisis.