It has been a tumultuous eight years with housing affordability being an impossible mountain to climb, and now even renting becoming an increasingly difficult option, for Michael and his family in Newmarket.
He and his wife both work, earning more than $110,000 a year combined, but they have been handed no-fault evictions four times in less than a decade from their rented homes, and will have to move for a fifth time in the near future when their current lease ends.
And with rents continuing to rise in Newmarket and across York Region, he is feeling deeply frustrated and concerned about his family's future.
He's not alone, as becoming a home owner is an impossibility for more and more Ontarians, and as the number of the renters rises in the province.
A new poll by the Ontario Real Estate Association shows 51 per cent of Ontarians said housing affordability should be the government's top priority. That's a 16 per cent increase since June 2021 and the first time since OREA began polling in 2021 that more than half of the respondents ranked housing affordability as a top priority.
As a result of many families struggling to afford their own home, more are renting. According to the Canadian Rental Housing Index, there are more than 1.7 million renters in the province, a 10 per cent increase since 2016.
But renting affordability has become an issue as well with the average rental price in the province rising 27 per cent from 2016 to 2021.
Michael is a music teacher and his wife works for the York Catholic District School Board, however, with the price of houses and rising cost of living, they’ve been unable to purchase their own home.
Out of concern of possible repercussions to his family as they search for a new rental home, his last name is not being used.
Just a few years ago, Michael said they had $50,000 in savings, yet it wasn’t enough for a down payment on a house in York Region.
With his 16-year-old son nearing high school graduation and both he and his wife working full time in the region, moving away isn’t a feasible option.
The harsh reality Michael said is that over these last few years, that $50,000 in savings has been spent on rent and the rising cost of living. He said he now has just $5,000 left in savings.
“We’re not sure how we’re going to find a place,” he said.
Currently, Michael and his family are living in a home paying rent of $3,000 a month, but the landlord’s son just got married and will be moving into the home this spring, he said.
“I don’t know where to go or who to talk to,” he said. “Nobody really gives a crap about us.”
Beyond home prices shooting up and rent being "astronomical," Michael finds there are fewer options these days even if you’re willing to pay because of the number of short-term rentals in the region.
With hundreds of short-term rentals like Airbnb in Newmarket, Michael said it has taken away options for community members who want to live in the town longer term.
“It’s hard enough to own a place, or afford a place, but now it’s harder than ever to find a place,” he said
The other day, Michael was sent an ad for a place for rent in Keswick that cost $2,800 for the main floor and another $1,500 for the basement.
“It’s absurd,” he said.
There’s also a disconnect with the Landlord Tenant Act, said Michael, as he and his wife have been served eviction notices that were never filed with the Landlord Tenant Board.
“They can be downloaded online and served to tenants without having gone through any process,” he said. “They’re not legal. They’re nothing but a harassment tactic.”
Left with no options after four previous evictions and nowhere to go when his current lease comes to an end, Michael hoped to speak with local MPP Dawn Gallagher Murpy, but she hasn’t been available.
After speaking with her constituency office numerous times without luck, he went to the office in person, but the police were called when he continually asked to see Gallagher Murphy.
Michael said when the police showed up, he was just asked to leave.
“All of a sudden, I have no credibility,” he said. “I’m not a human being and I’m not important enough.”
The office of Gallagher Murphy said while constituent interactions are confidential, meetings in the constituency office are scheduled by appointment only.
The MPP's office said that in an effort to help families dealing with the fallout of the cost of living, the provincial government is working to put "more money in the pockets of Ontario families."
According to the Ontario Real Estate Association poll, 80 per cent believe there are steps the Ontario government could take to improve housing affordability, but only 15 per cent approve of the job being done to date, with 55 per cent believing decisions the provincial government has made over the past three years have made it more difficult to buy a home.
A few of the initiatives the provincial government has focused on to help with affordability, said the representative for Gallagher Murphy, are lowering gas taxes, scrapping licence plate stickers, dropping tolls on Highway 412 and 418, lowering electricity bills, cutting the provincial portion of the HST, and implementing the CARE, LIFT, and staycation tax credits.
But Michael said far more needs to be done or more and more families with two incomes will find themselves in a situation similar to his.
The part that Michael said blows his mind the most is that he and his wife have full-time jobs, pay their bills on time, and have great credit ratings and are still dealing with these issues.
“We’re not ungrateful or embarrassed about where we are in our lives,” he said. “I couldn’t even imagine what other people are going through.”
Michael just wants answers about what he and his family are supposed to do and where they’re supposed to go when the system is failing them.
“Are we going to lose our jobs and our pensions? Is my son going to lose his chance at a post-secondary education? It’s not because we’re poor or uneducated,” he said. “Why am I dealing with this? I’m just trying to survive what’s going on.”
