When We Leave: The Human Cost of Housing Unaffordability
When We Leave invites viewers to envision and reflect on how housing unaffordability erodes the foundations of our region’s livability... and what we can do to turn it around together.
An urgent call to action, When We Leave explores the connections between our collective well-being and the middle-income workers who make life possible in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Region (GTHA).
It asks you to consider what stands to be lost when those workers can no longer afford to stay. It asks you to join the mission to create a GTHA where we can all afford to live where we work and work where we live.
You Belong Here
These testimonials come from CivicAction’s Emerging Leader’s Network, wholive across the GTHA and have shared their personal experiences with the risingcosts and the impact of housing unaffordability.
If you’d like to share your experience, please fill our form below.
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Affordability statistics
Home prices in the GTA grew about 4× faster than incomes between ~2000 and 2019, while rents grew more than 2× faster over the same period.
66% spend more than 30% of income on housing (29% spend over 50%), far above the affordability standard (2025).
In 2024, 51% of new foodbank users in Toronto had someone in their household who was employed.
In 2024, 20% of food bank users spent 100% of their income on housing.
67.7% of middle-income workers in the GTHA considered changing jobs or moving because of housing costs (2025 survey).