'Middle-class, good hard-working' family struggles to find home in unaffordable York Region

Michael is frustrated; really frustrated.

As a two-income family — he is a musician and former music teacher in Markham and Richmond Hill and his wife works for the York Catholic District School Board — the longtime renters have managed to save $50,000 but with sky-rocketing house prices, it's not enough for a down payment on a home in York Region.

"They talk about housing crisis but they're not explaining what's happening to six-figure, middle-class, good hard-working Canadians," said Michael, who requested that his last name not be used due to possible repercussions to his family as they search for a new rental home.

According to a Remax 2021 GTA Hot Pocket communities report, year-to-date house sales have risen in York Region by close to 110 per cent but "affordability challenges continue to be exacerbated by the supply crunch."

The report states the average price in 2021 for a single-detached home in Aurora is $1,526,622 and $1,213,706 in Newmarket.

Of 60 GTA communities examined by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, single-detached homes under $1 million were found in just six — all in the 905-area, and just one, Georgina, in York Region.  

The minimum down payment on a home that costs more than $1 million is 20 per cent.

For people like Michael who has lived in York Region for 16 years, it's just not feasible.

Peter Kaliszek, a sales representative at Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd. Brokerage in Newmarket, said townhouses in the area average $700,000 to $750,000. He said the main issue with buying a home is the down payment.

Some of his clients have chosen to move outside of the GTA to afford to buy a home, he said. A home in Windsor can be purchased for $350,000, he added.

But if you work here, that's typically not an option.

A recent Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) poll showed that 46 per cent of prospective home buyers under the age of 45 have considered or are considering moving out of the province entirely to afford a home.

Moving out of province or even out of commutable range is not an option, said Michael. His wife doesn't want to lose her job and they don't want to uproot their 14 year-old son.

"You can move over, down that way there's cheaper housing, over there... well, what about what we've built for 16 years?"

The couple moved to Aurora from Northern Ontario 16 years ago when his wife received a job opportunity. Since their arrival, they've been renting but due to a series of no-fault evictions — three N12 evictions in six years — they've been forced to move almost every 24 months.

An N12 eviction is a legal notice filed by a landlord stating that they or their relatives intend to move into the rental unit.

"There has been a massive increase of evictions of this nature," said NDP MPP housing critic Jessica Bell.

According to the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), N12 eviction applications have risen by 85 per cent since 2015. Data from Tribunals Ontario shows that between 2017 and 2021 the applications rose from 23 to 66 in Aurora and from 22 to 41 in Newmarket.

Unfortunately, an N12 can be filed in bad faith, when a landlord has no intention of using the space for personal use but will instead rent it to new tenants at a higher rate, said Bell, and there is no enforcement of N12 evictions, so the onus of proving that the landlord has not acted in good faith falls to the tenant.

"The government has set up the law so that a renter has to become a private investigator and monitor their former home to gather evidence to prove that a former landlord illegally evicted them," said Bell.

If a tenant is able to gather proof, they have to make their case to the Landlord Tenant Board, though Bell said the number of tenants who do this are "about zero."

There is little financial incentive to move forward and tenants just want to move on, she said.

Michael did fight the N12 notice filed by his current landlord, and won on a technicality. He is waiting for the landlord to file again and said he knows he will lose.

Bell said that the province-wide housing affordability crisis directly affects renters. With housing prices going upwards of 20 per cent over the last year, she said, landlords will be "financially motivated to kick out long-term tenants and bring in higher paying tenants so they can make their astronomical mortgage payments."

Having to move every two years is not only stressful on his family, it's been very costly as well. With each move the rent increases by $500 to $800, he said. His current rent is almost $2,000 a month and a new place will be more, said Michael.

"For almost a decade now in a situation where housing has become so unaffordable, tenants want to maintain their place in their community, they want to keep their rent affordable and in order to realistically do that, (they need) to remain in their units," said Douglas Kwan, director of advocacy and legal services at ACTO.

"If this continues, if there isn't stronger deterrents for this (N12s) happening, every six months you have a home that keeps getting turned over and over and over, you're going to have very quickly a community that only the middle and upper middle and higher income households can afford."

Michael said he doesn't understand why a family that makes a good living and has savings in the bank not only can't afford to buy a home but also can't afford to rent in their community.  

"How are my wife and I supposed to pay $3,000 a month when she makes $4,000 a month and I'm making $2,500 a month — how are we supposed to afford that?" he said.

"I have no home, I have no mutual funds left, I have no RRSPs left, I've been kicked out of house to house....I'm not looking for programs, I'm not looking for money, we're just looking for a fair place for my family to go where we can continue working and putting our son through school."