According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report, Can’t Afford Rent, Rental Wage in Canada 2022 (MacDonald and Tranjan, 2023), there is not a single province where minimum wage earners can rent a market rate unit without spending more than 30 per cent of their income.
The data is from October 2022, so for Ontario increase the minimum wage to $16.50. Even then, a minimum wage earner can’t afford market rate shelter.
Min wage
British Columbia $15.65 * $27.54 ** $33.10
Ontario $15.50 $25.96 $29.90
Nova Scotia $13.60 $21.38 $26.06
Alberta $15.00 $21.42 $25.37
Manitoba $13.50 $19.98 $25.04
Saskatchewan $13.00 $18.62 $22.27
New Brunswick $13.75 $16.38 $20.40
P.E.I. $13.70 $17.69 $20.02
Québec $14.25 $16.62 $18.71
Nfld and Labrador $13.70 $15.94 $18.08
*= 1-Bedroom Rental Wage
**= 2-Bedroom Rental Wage — Columns may appear slightly different on phones.
Source: CMHC, Rental Market Survey Data Tables; ESDC, Minimum Wage Database; authors’ calculations.
A rental wage is the hourly wage that allows tenants to spend 30 per cent of their pretax earnings on rent. It is based on the cost of rent for a single-earner working a regular 40-hour work week living in either a one-bedroom or two-bedroom rental home.
A living wage is the hourly wage that a worker needs to cover their basic expenses while also participating in the community. Traditionally, it’s based on two-earners with two young children with both adults working full-time for 35 hours per week.
Ontario and Alberta now base their calculations on a weighted average of a two-income family of four along with a single parent with one child and a single adult living alone.
Living wage (2023) across the country ranges from a low of $17.35 in Medicine Hat to a high of $38.80 in Canmore, Alberta. Hamilton’s living wage is $20.80.
Although the two calculations result in different numbers, both highlight just how challenging it is for low-wage earners to support themselves, and their families, in a dignified manner.
Today, I’m sitting down with Tom Cooper, board member for Hamilton Alliance of Tiny Shelters (HATS) and Executive Director of Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction (HRPR), to discuss the housing crisis in Hamilton, Ontario.
There are no quick fixes to the housing crisis because it really is not a matter of supply.
As you can see from the figures above the situation is the culmination of a lack of political will from many levels of government, but particularly the current Ford government, to invest in social housing; ensure rent caps — set at 2.5 per cent for 2024 — remain in place and become more robust by including increases between tenancies; create policy that ensures full-time workers earn a living wage with benefits and sick days and part-time workers earn a living wage with pro-rated benefits and sick days; and implement an unconditional, universal basic income which we know helps everyone who receives it especially folks transitioning to new green jobs or folks who are not able to work but deserve a more dignified existence than Ontario Works (OW), $733 per month, and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments, $1200 per month, currently offer.
We also discussed the role tiny shelters can play in transitioning unhoused people into permanent housing. And, those unhoused folks are increasingly older women, families with children and folks on OW and ODSP.
Have a listen to our conversation and then check out these links:
University of British Columbia study: Science leads the way in initiative providing direct cash transfers to individuals experiencing homelessness.
The study proved providing a cash transfer of $7,500 each to 50 individuals experiencing homelessness in B.C.’s Lower Mainland allowed the recipients to move into stable housing more quickly. The participants also retained over $1,000 more in savings over one year, spent less money on alcohol and drugs and achieved food security sooner than a control group who did not receive the cash transfer.
I really think that you need to make the time to watch the film, PUSH.
Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes are not. PUSH (2019) sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unliveable cities and an escalating crisis that has an effect on us all. This is not gentrification, it’s a different kind of monster.
The film follows Canadian Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, as she travels the globe, trying to understand who’s being pushed out of the city and why. “I believe there’s a huge difference between housing as a commodity and gold as a commodity. Gold is not a human right, housing is,” says Leilani.
See the trailer that mentions Toronto here.
I’ll be surprised if you don’t watch the entire film, because that means you are choosing to remain uninformed and to not take action to reclaim the fundamental right to housing for everyone — not just the wealthy — in Canada.
The list of Tiny Homes resources below are not part of the HATS project. In fact, these homes are not necessarily destined to be filled by unhoused folks. Instead, they are a financial choice by many who have been shut out of the housing market due to insane market price increases, — driven up by greedy real estate agents and land speculators rather than international students and immigrants — coupled with outrageous rents that are often the equivalent to, or more than, carrying a mortgage. That means with no hope of ever saving up for a downpayment there are few options for home ownership. And, I’m talking about people with jobs, careers and trades that used to provide a good standard of living.
And, isn’t that a sad state of affairs when a house on wheels, measuring between 60 and 400 square feet, is the best option for affordable home ownership that Canada has to offer.
A 300 square foot tiny house costs about $40,000 — more for a custom home — while a 332 square foot condominium is going for $525,000 and it doesn’t even have a bedroom!!! Yup, that’s right. Read about the west Hamilton January 2024 listing here.
Tiny Homes Alliance Canada — Find a Tiny House 101 primer on this site.
Tiny Homes in Canada — Find everything you need to know here including builders and land directories by province.
A Guide to Canadian Regulations and Building Codes
Tiny Home Show – May 10 – 12, 2024 – Ottawa, Canada
Westcoast Small Home Expo – Jun 03 – 04, 2024 – Vancouver, BC
Tiny Home Show – Jul 12 – 14, 2024 – Ancaster Fairgrounds, Ontario, Canada
Berlin Travel Festival – Dec 01 – 03, 2023 – Virtual Event
Online Tiny House Festival – Jun 19 – 20, 2021 – YouTube
Tiny House Big Fix: Novella by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Canadian author, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, wrote a brilliant book called Tiny House Big Fix. The story focuses on Sadie, a single mother of two working as a house framer.
After her divorce, Sadie rented a bungalow. But when her landlady tells her that she needs to move, Sadie finds few options amidst skyrocketing rents and landlords who discriminate against single moms, kids and pets.
Living in a trailer at the local campsite lasts until her ex-husband finds out. Eventually, Sadie builds a tiny house for the three of them to live in.
While the goal of Canadians should not be to live in tiny homes, this is a wonderful book to introduce elementary aged kids to the fact that many people in our own communities are having an extremely difficult time finding suitable housing they can afford.
Conversely, it could also be read to children who are precariously housed or unhoused to show that other families are going through the same experience. I can think of several neighbourhoods — including Aldershot a neigbourhood in affluent Burlington, Ontario — where unhoused families are housed in local motels while they search for suitable, affordable housing. The local elementary school where these children go could surely incorporate this into the reading curriculum.
Anderson-Dargatz also introduces the concepts of discrimination based on gender, family size and composition as well as the reality that someone can work full-time and still not be able to meet their family’s basic needs of shelter and food. And, the author does this in an age-appropriate way.
Tiny House Big Fix was written for the Rapid Reads program. The intended audience is adults struggling with literacy, ESL students and reluctant readers. Written for a 2.0 to 6.0 reading level it is perfect for elementary aged children although some books do contain adult language and themes. So, read the synopsis and review the book before hand.
The adult theme included in Tiny House Big Fix is limited to a couple of sentences that refer to Sadie’s ex-husband having an affair that led to the divorce. If that is problematic, those sentences can be skipped over without detracting from what is a thoughtfully crafted piece of honest writing.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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