‘Shockingling high’ prices make life a financial challenge for over half the home renters in York Region

More than 1 in 4 tenants spending half of pay on rent

Yorkregion.com
September 7, 2018
Lisa Queen

As a two-income family earning about $60,000 a year, Jessica Kinsley and her boyfriend Michael Nordine struggled to find affordable rental housing in York Region.

Rents seemed astronomical, choice was scarce and -- in this landlords’ market -- the couple’s lack of credit history and a “ding" on Nordine’s credit dating back to his teenage days, hampered attempts to convince a landlord to choose them over other prospective tenants.

“It’s frustrating,” said Kinsley, a 21-year-old on maternity leave from her job as a personal support worker.

Kinsley and Nordine, who lived in Kinsley's sister’s basement in Pefferlaw until her sibling notified them she was selling the house, are now renting a one-bedroom basement apartment in Newmarket for $1,000 a month, including utilities.

“That’s a find. We lucked out,” said Kinsley, a new mom to two-month-old Liam.

Other places they looked at were renting in the neighbourhood of $1,400 a month, plus utilities.

Their landlord, Brandon Okorofsky, has been renting out his basement since December 2014, about 10 months after he and his wife, Amanda, bought the home.

“It wasn’t our intention to finish the basement and rent it out when we bought the house,” he said.

Although the couple has two incomes, they rely on the rental income to offset the region’s high housing costs.

Without the rent to help pay their mortgage, “we would definitely be pinching pennies,” especially with daycare costs for their four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, Okorofsky said.

The circumstances for these two families are not unique in this region.

Findings from a new Angus Reid Institute (ARI) study found housing concerns rank high for most Greater Toronto Area (GTA) residents.

Renters, especially, feel shut out of the real estate market. More than half of the renters surveyed (59 per cent) said they "are seriously considering" leaving the GTA because of high housing costs in the region, according to the ARI study.

Concerns about high rents in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) are nothing new either.

But a look at recent census numbers and national and provincial data compiled on renters and homeowners shows just how tough tenants in York Region have it.

And that’s not just for lower-income and vulnerable residents.

There are 50,340 rental households in York Region compared to 305,655 owned households, according to the Canadian Rental Housing Index, developed by the BC Non-Profit Housing Association in partnership with organizations across the country.

Tenants are not only struggling to find rental units among the relatively slim pickings available in the region. They are also labouring to afford those few vacancies on the market.

Only Toronto and Peel Region scored worse than York when considering supply and affordability in the Rental Housing Index ranking of Ontario regions.

Richmond Hill and Markham ranked first and second, respectively, among the top 10 most critical municipal rental health situations in the province. Vaughan was listed fifth most critical.

A Region of York report based on 2016 census data shows 52 per cent of the region's renters are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.

That’s the highest percentage in the GTHA.

Every other region has fewer than 50 per cent of tenants spending that much.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal Crown corporation, says a household spending more than 30 per cent of its income on rent faces “affordability challenges.”

What’s worse, 27 per cent of York Region tenants are spending more than 50 per cent of their income on rent and utilities.

This puts many renters at a greater risk of becoming homeless if they face a health challenge or lose their jobs, according to the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO).

The organization’s report, "Where Will We Live? Ontario’s Affordable Rental Housing Crisis," noted that tenants in Vaughan would have to earn $31 an hour to make average rental prices in that community affordable.

Compare that to $24 an hour in Toronto, $25 in Mississauga or $22 in Ottawa.

In York Region, census numbers show the average rent is $1,417 a month. That was $175 more than the average monthly cost of $1,242 in Toronto.

The rental market in York Region and across the GTHA is so hot, prospective tenants are bidding on rental units, even basement apartments, the way would-be homebuyers have traditionally done, Jennifer Lam said.

Lam is with the York Region Housing Mediation Services, a dispute-resolution program for housing providers and tenants funded by the federal government’s Homelessness Prevention Strategy through the United Way of Greater Toronto.

The region’s high rents are taking a toll on tenants, said Bill Kukulewich, the York Region Legal Clinic’s tenant duty counsel and the eviction prevention co-ordinator with the eviction prevention program.

“Higher rents, in my opinion, put a strain on everyone. I would say that it impacts lower-income (earners) more. However, higher-income earners are impacted as well,” said Kukelewich, who is also running for the Ward 2 council seat in Newmarket.

“Higher rent means less money for food, utilities and other basics, so people that rent have to adjust accordingly. Some find it difficult to do that. In general, society as a whole, suffers when people struggle to survive.”

While the rental market is difficult throughout the GTHA -- where the vacancy rate hovers around 1 per cent when a rate of 3 per cent is considered healthy -- York Region finds itself in a particularly bad drought, Kenn Hale, ACTO’s legal director, said.

“York Region has it bad,” said Hale, who called York Region’s rents “shockingly high.”

Traditionally, a bedroom community for Toronto without the large industrial centres in other areas such as General Motors in Oshawa and Ford in Oakville, York’s development history has been especially hard on tenants, he said.

The region’s politicians have traditionally planned for family-style housing for middle-income and more affluent earners, Hale said.

“They (politicians) left it up to developers to build whatever was going to make them the most money,” he said.

Over the years, politicians have had a tendency not to give much thought to the implications of failing to provide rental housing, Hale said.

For example, the young adult children of homeowners must often move far from home to be able to afford somewhere to live, Hale said.

And businesses could start bypassing York Region because workers don’t have affordable places to live nearby, he said.

Meanwhile, as York University builds its new Markham campus, there’s a concern students won’t be able to rent apartments near the campus, Hale said.

Census numbers show 86 per cent of households in York Region are owned, the highest percentage in the GTHA.

However, the tide may be turning.

Since 2006, the proportion of renter households in the region grew by 2.5 per cent, the largest increase in the GTHA.

Last year, the 212 Davis Apartments, the first new, privately funded rental apartment building constructed in York Region since the 1980s, opened in Newmarket.

At the same time, the federal government has introduced Canada’s first-ever housing strategy, a $40-billion plan to help Canadians find affordable and appropriate housing.

And Hale is hoping York Region politicians embrace tools created by the provincial government for municipalities, such as requiring developers to include affordable housing in their developments.

“It’s time politicians and municipal leaders look at the needs of the community and balance needs in the community,” he said.

“Mixed-income communities are not negative. Diversity helps communities. Where are the people who are going to make your community work going to live?”