M.C., Program Manager, Nonprofit Sector

“Housing affordability impacts my ability to give my child a safe home in the GTHA, and for me to continue to work in the non-profit sector.  

While we are lucky to currently live in an apartment that has a fair rental cost, our apartment will soon not meet the needs of our growing family. Trying to find a new apartment to rent (as home ownership is completely out of the question with the housing market in the GTHA) has been a nightmare due to the high rent prices. 

It seems impossible to find a clean, safe, fairly priced home or apartment in an area that has schools, parks, community services… all the things we love about the GTHA.  If we move and our rent increases dramatically, it would affect our income and our ability to pay for things like childcare, groceries, and other necessities of life. 

My mental health has been impacted around this issue, as I juggle trying to find an appropriate place, constantly consider what options will be available to me, and face what decisions we may have to make as a family--including career changes. My partner and I work in the arts and non-profit sector (mental health) respectively. 

I am angry and frustrated because it feels like by choosing to work in these very important industries, our housing choices are limited because our salaries simply aren't high enough to meet the ever-climbing rental costs of this area. 

After fifteen years here, I feel like I am on the verge of being pushed out of the GTHA, which is incredibly upsetting to me. There is so much here that I have loved about the area, and so much that I hoped to share with my child, and from which my child would benefit. 

If my family, with two incomes and only one child, is struggling, I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for other families to find appropriate housing in the GTHA.”