Housing need in Ontario

CHF Canada’s Ontario Region is working to raise awareness of the need for housing in Ontario. Many low- and moderate-income Ontarians need affordable housing.

Each year, the Ontario Region, together with the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) publishes Where’s Home? A Picture of Housing Needs in Ontario. The 2010 report included these key findings:

• While vacancy rates are stabilizing after tightening up the last four years, rents are still rising faster than incomes of renter households.
• Average rents increased at three times the rate of inflation across the province in 2009.
• One-in-five Ontario renter households are still spending more than half their income on housing.
• Demand for affordable units is conservatively estimated at 10,000 homes a year for the next decade.
• An astonishing 95% of the housing starts in the last five year period were in the ownership market, with rental accounting for only 5%. Just 15 years ago, rental construction accounted for over a quarter (27%) of the market.

According to a 2011 survey by ONPHA, 152,077 households across Ontario are on municipal waiting lists for subsidized housing - an increase of 7.4% from 2010.

A CHF Canada report, The Dunning Report: Dimensions of Core Housing Need in Canada , released in 2009 shows that 1.5 million Canadian household are in core housing need (without adequate, suitable or affordable housing). In Ontario alone, almost 630,000 households were in core housing need.

On-line documents (CHF Canada)

These documents are (pdf) files.

• Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs Legislative Assembly of Ontario (February 1, 2011)
• Where's Home? a study of affordable rental housing within 22 communities in Ontario (May 2010)
• Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs Legislative Assembly of Ontario (February 2, 2010)
• The Dunning Report: Dimensions of Core Housing Need in Canada (August 2009)
• Where's Home? 2008 (March 2, 2009)
  • Where's Home 2008 Market Summaries
• Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs Legislative Assembly of Ontario (November 20, 2008)
• A Response to the City of Toronto’s Housing Opportunities Discussion Paper (July 2008)

Links to other information about housing need in Ontario

Where's Home Report Highlights Affordable Housing Shortage in York (York Region First Local, Rogers TV), June 3, 2010
ONPHA waiting list survey
Housing Network of Ontario
Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, affordable housing
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association

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