Tenant households
· 28.8% of all households in Ontario are renters (1,312,295 tenant households out of 4,550,030 total households), according to Statistics Canada 2001 Census data
· Just over half (53%) of all of Ontario’s tenant households live in the Toronto CMA (45%) and the City of Ottawa (8%)
· 36% of Ontario’s tenant households are living at or below the “poverty line”
· 96% of Ontario Works’ beneficiaries are tenants, but only 17% of these OW beneficiaries who rent live in subsidized housing - the vast majority live in the private rental market
· 76% of Ontario Disability Support Program beneficiaries are tenants, but only 22% of these ODSP beneficiaries who rent live in subsidized housing.
Private rental units
Total number of private rental units (in apartments with 3 units or more) in Ontario: 623,805
Secondary rental market
[Secondary market includes tenant-occupied single family, semi-detached and row house dwellings, rental condominiums, units in duplexes, accessory apartments (self-contained basements and flats) and apartments over stores.]
· The secondary or non-conventional rental market has been variously estimated to be 589,861 units or 41.3% of the total rental universe and as 894,000 units or 50% of all renter households
Social housing portfolio
Public housing units: 84,208
Co-operative housing units: 21,200
Non-profit housing units: 88,159
Former federal programs: 37,077 units
Urban Native Housing units: 1,981
Rural and Native Projects: 2,500units
Projects in Difficulty: 167 units
Dedicated Supportive Housing: 10,000units
Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program
Under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program Agreement signed April 29, 2005, the federal, provincial and municipal governments will invest at least $734 million in four components: Rental and Supportive, Rent Supplement/Housing Allowance, Northern Housing and Homeownership.
As of July 30, 2007, the following progress has been made on the Rental and Supportive component – 181 projects (7,458 units):
- 2,858 units are occupied.
- 2,161 units are under construction.
- 2,439 units are in planning approvals.
Rent supplement /housing allowance programs
Private rent supplement units: 19,163
Supportive housing rent supplements: 2,250 units
Strong Communities Rent Supplement: now allocated on fixed funding basis rather than unit basis to Municipal Service Managers; previously 6,670 units (including 1,321 for victims of domestic violence, persons with mental illness, those with developmental disabilities, and long-term client groups)
Toronto pilot - Strong Communities Rent Supplement: 400 households
Affordable Housing Program - Housing Allowance/Rent Supplement: 5,000 households
Rental Opportunity for Ontario Families (ROOF) housing allowance program: 27,350 households.
Co-op housing
Number of co-ops: 551
Number of co-op units: 44,019
Waiting lists for social housing
· There were 123,182 low-income households across Ontario on the active waiting lists for social housing at the beginning of 2006.
· Among the 34 Service Managers which track applicant incomes, 76% of the low-income households on their waiting lists had gross incomes below $20,000.
· In Toronto, there were a total of 66,412 households on the social housing waiting list (active and inactive) as of March 31, 2007.
· Applicants often wait several years before they are placed in housing. In 2003, 20% of applicants in Toronto had been on the waiting list for less than a year. Of the rest, 38% had been on the list for one to three years, 22% for three to five years, and 19% for five years or more.
Vacancy rates
· Overall, Ontario’s rental vacancy rate in 2006 was 3.4% – that’s 34 vacancies for every 1,000 rental units
· In April 2007, the Ontario rental vacancy rate slightly increased to 3.9%
· In the 18-year period between 1989 to 2006, Ontario’s overall average vacancy rate has only in the past four years risen above 3%
· In the 18-year period between 1989 to 2006, vacancy rates persistently at or below 3% were experienced by Kitchener-Waterloo (11 years), Barrie (17 years), Hamilton (13 years), Toronto (14 years)
· Ottawa’s vacancy rate has been at or below 3% for 21 of the last 27 years
· The City of Toronto’s overall vacancy rate in 2006 was 3.2% - this was only the third time since 1971 that the vacancy rate exceeded 2.5%.
Rents
[Cost of renting is outpacing inflation.]
· The average rent of all the Ontario rental units surveyed annually by CMHC increased by 30% from 1995 to 2006, outpacing the 25% percentage change in Ontario’s CPI
· Rents for one-bedroom apartments increased in every Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Ontario in 2006, with the exception of Hamilton ($2 decrease) and Windsor (rent unchanged)
· Rents for two-bedroom apartments increased in every Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Ontario in 2006, with the exception of Windsor ($6 decrease).
· The highest average monthly rents in Canada for two-bedroom apartments in 2006 were in Toronto ($1,067), Vancouver ($1,045) and Calgary ($1,045) and Ottawa ($941)
· In the Toronto CMA, where 45% of all Ontario tenant households reside, the average rent increased by 34% from 1995 to 2006 – outpacing the 25% increase in the Ontario CPI.
· As rents increase, especially if they increase at a faster rate than tenant incomes, fewer units in the existing private rental stock are available at an affordable level; this means more rental units move into the range where tenants will increasingly have to pay more than 30% of their incomes for rent
Tenant household incomes declining
· The average income of Ontario’s renter households is about half that of homeowner households ($79,916 vs. $40,132)
· The median income of Ontario’s renter households is less than half of homeowner households ($66,382 vs. $32,194)
· In Ontario, the income gap between the median income of homeowners and renters grew by 22 per cent over 15 years – from $21,338 in 1984 to $25,959 in 1999; this represents an average growth in the income gap between owners and renters of about 1.5 per cent a year
· In Ontario, the gap in the median net worth of homeowners and renters increased from $130,707 in 1984 to $179,650 in 1999 - an increase of 37%
Affordability
[Cost of adequate shelter should not exceed 30% of total pre-tax household income.]
· According to CMHC's 2001 Census-based Housing Data, while Ontario renter households accounted for 31% of all Ontario households, they comprised 66.4% of Ontario households in core housing need – a significantly disproportionate share. Housing affordability is the predominant cause of core housing need.
· 42% of Ontario tenant households (564,735 out of 1,338,850) pay 30% or more of their household income on shelter costs
· 20% of Ontario tenant households (265,995 out of 1,338,850) pay 50% and over of their household income on shelter costs
· The risk for homelessness increases where rental costs consume more than 50% of pre-tax household income for a tenant household
Loss of existing rental housing supply
· There were 39,070 fewer private rented units reported in the 2006 Census than in the 2001 Census (i.e. 1,312,295 renter households in 2001 vs. 1,351,365 renter households in 2006)
· Between 1995 and 2005, there was a net loss of 13,061 rental units in 21 of Ontario's major municipalities - for the City of Toronto, that was a loss of 2,381 units.
New rental housing
[Federal social housing program cut in 1993;
Ontario social housing development was cancelled in 1995. New federal/provincial Affordable Housing Agreement signed in May 2002.]
· Ontario has averaged 2,813 rental starts annually over the years 1995-2006
· By contrast, from 1988 to 1992, rental starts averaged 16,000 units annually
· Over the period of 1991-2001, CMHC mid-point forecasts indicate rental demand by tenant households for additional units growing steadily from an annual rate of 7,000 (1991-1996) to 16,000 annually from 1996-2001, and 20,000 units annually after 2001.
Evictions
· The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal received a total of 509,827 applications from landlords across Ontario to evict tenant households in the period from June 17, 1998 to December 31, 2006
· 95% of all landlord applications were for eviction and applications for non-payment of rent comprised 84% (430,020) of all eviction applications filed by landlords
· In this same time period, the Tribunal issued 250,525 default orders to evict tenants without a hearing in eviction applications for non-payment of rent.
Sources:
Statistics Canada: Structural Type of Dwelling (9) and Tenure (4) for Occupied Private Dwellings, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001October 22, 2002. 2001 Community Profiles. Released June 27, 2002. Household Income Groups (14A), Owner's Major Payments (13), Housing Affordability for Owners (4), Condition of Dwelling (4), Household Type (4) and Tenure (3) for Private Households With Household Income Greater than Zero, in Owner-occupied Private Non-farm, Non-reserve Dwellings, for Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 2001 Census.
Statistics Canada 2007. 2006 Community Profiles. 2006 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 92-591-XWE. Ottawa. Released March 13, 2007.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), annual Rental Market Reports – Ontario Highlights and select municipalities.
Statistics and Analysis Unit, Social Policy Development Division, Ministry of Community and Social Services – December 2007 quarterly report of OW/ODSP cases and beneficiaries by accommodation types
Secondary Rental Market Study: Final Report April, 2000, prepared for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing & Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Rental Housing supply in Ontario: Anatomy of a crisis, prepared for the HHNO founding conference in February 2002
Social Housing Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada- Ontario Region office
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association’s 2006 Report on Waiting List Statistics for Ontario
Green Communities Canada
Toronto Housing Connections, Monthly Statistical Reports
The [City of Toronto]Toronto Report Card on Housing & Homelessness 2003
Where’s Home: A picture of housing needs in Ontario. A Project to raise housing awareness in Ontario, sponsored by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. March 1999.
Hulchanski, David. A Tale of Two Canadas: Homeowners Getting Richer, Renters Getting Poorer. Research Bulletin #2, Centre for Urban and Community Studies. August, 2001 - Fact sheet supplement – Income and Wealth of Owners and Renters in Ontario.
Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation's (CHMC) 2001 Census Housing Series: Issue 4 Revised, Canada's Metropolitan areas. May 2004.
Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing estimates based on CMHC survey on urban starts by intended market (for areas with population of 10,000 or more) & CMHC’s Ontario Housing Now Fourth Quarter 2005 report
Secondary Rental Market Study: Final Report, The Starr Group Inc, April 2000
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