Divided City Life In Canada's Child Poverty Capital

DIVIDED CITY: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital
2016 Toronto Child and Family Poverty Report Card
4. Unequal Access to Housing
Good housing is critical for the health, development and well-being of children
and youth. Children in inadequate housing are more likely to face developmental,
health and educational challenges. 22 One of the key planks in the city’s new poverty
reduction strategy is to improve access to affordable housing.
Indeed, increased attention is being paid to the extraordinarily rapid rise in the costs
of housing in Toronto, which is pushing lower-income families onto wait lists for
subsidized housing or into unsafe housing because they simply don’t have other
options (almost 100,000 Toronto households are stuck on the wait list for subsidized
housing). 23
Rental and ownership housing prices in Toronto are among the highest in Canada,
and have been rising well above the rate of inflation. Toronto is the second most
expensive city in Canada to buy a home, with an annual income of $87,000 needed
to afford an average home. 24 In 2015, the average rent in Toronto (across all
apartment sizes) was over $1,200 per month. 25
Overall, 34% of families with children aged 17 and under are paying more than 30%
of their income on rent (the threshold of “affordability”) (Figure 13). Twenty-seven
percent of families with children age 12 or under are living in core housing need
(i.e., living in housing that is either overcrowded, unaffordable or in poor repair)
(Figure 14). The percentage of lone-parent families living in unaffordable or
deficient housing is about twice as high as the rate for two-parent families.
Figure 13: Percentage of Tenant Economic Families with Children Under Age 18
Spending More Than 30% of Household Income on Shelter, 2011
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
51 52 52
Tenant Lone-Parent
Families
35
26
29
Tenant Couple
Families
Source: National Household Survey - Statistics Canada, 2011,
Custom Tabulation access through the Community Data Program.
41
29
34
All Tenant
Families
Renter
Owner
Both
Overall, 34%
of families with
children aged 17
and under are
paying more than
30% of their income
on rent.
18