Ontario's affordable housing wait list hits record high

Some 168,000 Ontario households were waiting for affordable housing last year, continuing an upward trend that began in 2006

Thestar.com
May 4, 2015
By Laurie Monsebraaten

Ontario’s affordable housing wait list continues to break records, with more than 168,000 households now waiting an average of almost four years.

An additional 3,600 households joined the line in 2014, according to the Ontario Non-profit Housing Association’s annual wait list survey, being released Monday.

Although last year’s 2.2-per-cent increase was less than the 4.2-per-cent jump in 2013, the continued upward trend since 2006 is a worry, says the report.

“The cost of housing continues to rise across the province,” said association president Keith Hambly, executive director of Fife House, a supportive housing provider that serves people living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto.

“More people are finding themselves caught in the housing crunch, which negatively impacts virtually every area of a person’s life and makes it nearly impossible for families to escape poverty,” he said.

The bulk of those joining the wait list last year were single adults and couples, says the association, which represents 760 non-profit housing organizations that oversee more than 163,000 rent-geared-to-income units in the province.

Single adults and couples are the largest group waiting for affordable housing, making up about 37 per cent of households on the list.

But seniors, who represent 30 per cent of the wait list, continue to be the fastest growing group, up from just 22 per cent a decade ago, the report says.

Toronto’s Eddie Tilley is one of them. The 62-year-old former construction worker, who lost his job after a back injury 15 years ago, has been on the wait list for nine years.

He is among more than 78,000 households on the list in Toronto, where average waits are seven years, according to the report.

Tilley pays $1,011 a month for his one-bedroom apartment near Kingston Rd. and Victoria Park Ave., which eats up most of his monthly disability welfare cheque of just under $1,200.

“In order to keep up with the rent here, I have to eat at the Good Shepherd,” he says, referring to a daily meal program run by the downtown homeless shelter. “There’s absolutely no way I can afford food and rent at the same time.”

Tilley believes the stress of relying on soup kitchens, food banks and used clothing depots to survive is behind his worsening heart condition.

“I had open heart surgery last year,” he says. “The wait is actually killing me.”

But after nine years, Tilley’s wait may soon be over. Local housing officials contacted him last week to say an affordable unit may be available soon.

“I just hope they can offer me something close to downtown and the Good Shepherd, so I don’t have to struggle with TTC,” he says.

About 32 per cent of Ontario households waiting for affordable homes are families. But in a rare bright spot, the report says average wait times for this group dropped by almost eight months in 2014, to just over three and a half years.

This was largely due to efforts in Peel Region, where average wait times had been 10 years - historically, the longest in the province. The municipality managed to cut that to an average of less than six years last year through a new program that offers rent supplements in private-sector apartments.

However, local efforts alone can’t meet the burgeoning demand for safe, secure housing Ontarians can afford, said association executive director Sharad Kerur.

“What we need is long-term, predictable and flexible funding from senior governments,” he said in an interview from Winnipeg, where he is attending the annual Canadian Housing Renewal Association conference.

The association hopes to make affordable housing an issue in next fall’s federal election.

“The data show that we need a sustained investment in housing from senior government, because local government can’t do it alone,” he said.

Waiting for affordable housing in Ontario

168,711 - number of families, seniors, single adults and couples waiting for rent-geared-to-income housing in 2014
3,642 - number of additional households that joined the wait list in 2014
2.2 - percentage increase in number of households waiting for affordable housing in 2014
3.2 - percentage of households on affordable housing wait lists
4 - average number of years a household waited for an affordable unit in 2014
30 - percentage of seniors on the wait list, up 8 points from a decade ago

Source: Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association