Cost of Living

On the front page of the Peterborough Examiner yesterday was an article on affordable housing. To check it out click here. It's actually pretty depressing and says a lot about the city. I still remember when I moved to Peterborough. I was homeless and on social assistance. When I was still in London they had told me who to contact about subsidized housing and I was told that I would take priority since I was homeless (if I stayed in London that is). I took a chance and moved to Peterborough. I went down to talk to someone about my housing situation and was told that they don't prioritize for people that are living in shelters, couch surfing, or are out on the streets. To this day that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

4 months later I was homeless again. Social assistance does offer to pay last months rent but limit it to $300 (or maybe it was $400). They won't help you if you are trying to get into an apartment building because on welfare you won't be able to afford the monthly payments. At this point I had a job but had just started and couldn't afford to pay first and last. So because they wouldn't help me out, in spite of the job, I wound up being homeless again. I was staying on someone's couch. Then I ended up renting a room. It was a pretty sad situation.

According to the article it takes up to 15 years to get subsidized housing here. 15 years... Maybe it's just me but that number seems awfully high. And if you are waiting 15 years for affordable housing what are you supposed to do in the meantime? Peterborough is known for low wages and a relatively high cost of living. There is a huge housing shortage as it is so landlords can charge outrageous amounts for rent. Apparently, Peterborough has one of the highest rates of people who are housing insecure. I am assuming that this means people are struggling with the rental prices. Right now there are 1,469 people on the list and seniors and people waiting for a 1 bedroom unit make up over half the list.

No new housing units have been made in 15 years. Since obviously that means that someone has to move out (or die) before a spot opens up you would think that they would've noticed there was an issue long before now and maybe addressed it. 15 years to wait for affordable housing is a big problem.

The mayor said, "If we can help these underemployed and unemployed people get jobs, decent-paying jobs, then all these things become affordable." It's a nice statement except that Peterborough's economy is largely fueled by call centers and retail... neither of which pay enough to change things. And they're not even counting the working poor that are not on the list for subsidized housing and simply struggle through month after month. People like me.

Other interesting notes... Almost 10% of the population in Peterborough are fed each month by the food bank. Again that number seems to be pretty high. Obviously we have an issue with poverty and people not being able to meet their basic needs.

Also according to the article in 2005 the cost of a 2 bedroom apartment was $797, up from $641 in 1995. I'd like to know where they found an apartment that cheap... unless they are giving the price without utilities. For a two bedroom in 2005 it was costing us $875/month. In a month the rent for my apartment will be going up to $769 and there is nothing I can do since they are allowed to raise the rent annually and it is below the maximum allowable amount. But the prices are comparable to other apartment buildings in the city. The alternative is having a roommate but I really don't like that option, for a number of reasons. I've worked at the same place for 4 years... theoretically I should be able to pay my rent. Well so theory says any ways.

The last point, and the one I found the most interesting, in the article is that an hourly wage of $13.60 or an annual income of $27,880 is needed to rent a one bedroom apartment. Starting wages at most call centers is about $9 an hour. That is a far cry from what is needed. When I started working there I was making $10.30/hour and 4 years later... and with a promotion I am making $14.15. Sure that is almost a 40% increase... but if you need $13.60/hour in order to pay rent... then $14.15 is not enough for the job I do, especially with my student loans. According to the government I make too much money not to pay back my loans (and no matter what only have 5 months of interest relief left) because they don't adjust for cost of living.

Currently I am also putting money into an RRSP which may not be an option once my loan payments have to be made since I won't be able to afford planning for the future. But once you take my RRSP contributions out of the equation my hourly rate actually drops to $12.45/hour plus any deduction the government has, or the cost of the enhanced dental plan. That is well below the $13.60 that they say is needed to rent a one bedroom apartment. $13.60/hour is $1088 a month... and I can pretty much guarantee that an entire paycheque would be going to rent after the government takes out their share.

So I guess that means that companies need to increase wages to account for the cost of living. The alternative is for the city to step in and force apartments to reduce the rental rates which isn't going to happen. After all it is the private sector and the city can't force them to reduce their rents. I highly doubt that it's going to happen but it would be a nice thought. I would like to think that one day I might get paid a wage that actually allows me to pay my bills and demonstrates value for the position I have.