Front Burner - The Rent Trap

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

With housing supply low and rent going up across the country, Canada’s rental crisis is getting worse. And it’s given rise to people who feel rent trapped — stuck in less-than-ideal and difficult living conditions. Front Burner’s Elaine Chau and Shannon Higgins bring you stories from Toronto and Vancouver. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Okay, so what keeps me here? Well, let's see. Off the top of my head, finances. Finances keeps me here. It feels like I have no choice.

It feels paralyzing. That's exactly how I feel like there's nowhere for me to go. None of it is better than where I am right now. In comparison, it's like, geez, I'd rather be here. I don't think that's fair. And I didn't see myself still being in a one-bedroom rental suite in my 40s. If you are a renter right now, I don't need to tell you. You know it's hard out there, and that Canada's rental crisis is getting worse. Housing supply is low and mortgage rates have shot up thanks to the Bank of Canada's interest hikes. Experts say that some landlords are passing those costs on to tenants.

According to a new report on rental listings across the country, the average asking price for rent in September was over $2,100. That's up more than 11% compared to last year. And among big Canadian cities, Toronto and Vancouver, still the most expensive places to rent. But costs are going up the fastest in Calgary, where the cost of a one-bedroom has gone up more than 13% in the last year alone. All across the country, the rental market is so tough that it's changing how we live. To get by, more people are getting roommates, and the crisis has given rise to something else.

The rent trap. I'm Shannon Higgins. I'm a producer here in Toronto. Later, my colleague in Vancouver, Elaine Chao, will be here too. And today we're talking to people who feel rent-trapped, stuck in less than ideal, annoying, and even difficult living conditions. All because they can't afford to rent anywhere else, or because they're too afraid to jump into what's increasingly being called an out-of-control market. And we'll start with a renter who I recently met up with in Toronto. Okay, so I'm in Regent Park in front of a condo building.

I'm just about to meet somebody with a very unique living situation here in Toronto. She is a wedding officiant and photographer and she is stuck living with her former partner. So I am outside their condo building where they share a two-bedroom apartment. I'm going to go in and find out what it's like to be rent-trapped with an ex. Hi, it's Shannon. Wow, you're like plugged in and ready to go. If you're okay with it, I'm recording. Yeah. So, I'm here, hi.

Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. My name is Zara Baksh and I am in my condo in the East End of Toronto. You work in the wedding industry. Yeah. Do you think that people might be surprised to learn that you have sort of an unconventional living arrangement? an unconventional living arrangement? Oh my gosh, absolutely. Especially recently with my work in marrying people and being a marriage officiant, it's actually still surprising how quick folks

are to judge. They're like, what do you mean you're separated? Out of everyone, I'm so surprised. I'm like, are you kidding me? Really? okay interesting so I've I've laughed at it more than been irritated by it because I've had to learn to just brush it aside with the divorce rate anyways you know I sometimes want to project that question back I'll be like hey listen the divorce rate's really high you know I'm not here to make people's marriage last i'm here to just make it happen yeah yes your job is for the day they have to take it the rest of the way and sometimes separation is a celebration yeah i would agree i would agree for myself uh i would say as painful and you know heart aching as it is um the both of us are happier this way and we

along better this way as well. So tell me a little bit more about that. Like for some people living with an ex sounds like like kind of a nightmare scenario or a hard situation at the very least, but talk to me about what keeps you here okay so what keeps me here well let's see off the top of my head finances finances keeps me here it was devastating to when we really crunched the numbers of what it would look like to physically move apart from each other as one would want when you're in a separation or a divorce when that possibility was really like a dead end for for both of us we came to this this place of being each other's community even though even though our marriage is not going to be sustained.

Yeah. So it sounds like you've reached sort of an equilibrium. Would you say you feel rent-trapped? Absolutely. 100%. I feel it runs laps in my mind a lot of the time. If I was to leave, I would still be entering the same price point, but perhaps the quality of my home would be

different, right? Or even if I was to save a couple of, even maybe let's say $1,000 by renting a room with someone, then my safety is in question because I'm not protected under the landlord and tenant laws. So it feels like no matter how I am to slice it, none of it is better than where I am right now. In comparison, it's like, geez, I'd rather be here. How does that make you feel? Like I'm forced, like I'm forced to live in a way that is just really not, it's not, it's beyond not ideal, from mental health from wanting to move on from wanting to sustain my own life again like it it's it it feels like I have no choice

so we are in the entryway of the apartment. And there's like a hall to the left. Which has a very cute plant. And a little art. Oh my god, it's an orange cat. I know. This is Zane. And you see his little face.

Like he has a little baby face. You have a little baby face. And then we're going into the space. There's like a bedroom on the left. And we're going into sort of a main common area with a kitchen and like a sitting area and like a desk facing. Really nice view of Regent Park. Thank you. Thank you.

And a little cat mansion corner. And yeah, it's my it's my sacred space. What do you think would happen to you if you did leave this apartment tomorrow? Oh my gosh, the honest truth. I think I would end up in a community shelter or on someone's couch. If that was even an option. Can you give me a little bit of context on how living here went in the last couple of years in terms of your rental history? Yeah, absolutely. So I lived just near Allen Gardens there. And so when my partner and I were moving out we were really excited and we came in at a really

great price in 2021 we were just shy of two thousand dollars right five dollars shy of two thousand dollars and we thought oh my gosh this is amazing and then by 2022 our rent had gone up two hundred dollars a month at the time we thought, we could deal with it. But then 2023 came, and we received notice of a $500 increase each month. What did that mean for you and your partner at the time? Oh, my gosh. Well, we were already dealing with unemployment, right? Post pandemic, or in the middle of pandemic unemployment and so from our financial perspective it just kept getting worse and worse and we we ended up having to ask friends to borrow money and fortunately for us we were able to receive that support but it left us it left us feeling

support, but it left us, it left us feeling trapped in another way as well. It's, it was just horrible. It was just this spinning circle of, oh my gosh, do you want to share a little bit about what it was like when you decided, you know what, I'm staying here. In choosing to be here, we're choosing to also, because the rent will go up again and we're choosing to fight back so one of the things that we talked about was hey when they come and they increase the rent again for 2024 we're just gonna decline and you know it'll go to the landlord and tenant board it'll do what it'll have to do but we're no longer it's like the panic was so big we were just like okay no matter what we do we're going to panic so we might as well just panic here if that makes any sense right yeah i'll panic here but instead of somewhere else you know like shelter in place

yeah exactly yeah this is a nice place to panic it's actually very common here there's actually there's incense that's on right now it's a very zen place it is and yeah and yeah thank you for noticing that because that's that's what we've done to the place on purpose is to make it as calm and warm and inviting and meditative as we can so while we are stressing out like you said it's better to stress out here where yes it's challenging but it does feel like the minute if we were to ever step out that door right now and say okay see you later we're off to find cheaper rent it's it's a gamble at this it's it is It is a gamble. Do you want to talk about some of the, I don't know if it's so sad, it's funny or so hard that you have to laugh about it, but like, what is it like living with someone that you

used to be with that you're no longer with? You know, we were best friends. And what we've decided on is as long as we're living together, we're just going to be as kind and compassionate to each other as we're living together, we're just going to be as kind and compassionate to each other as we possibly can. Because with the climate, we've even gotten to the point where we think we might end up living together for quite some time.

It might be three years. It might be four years. I don't know. I have no idea. I'm terrified to see where Toronto is going and also hopeful, you know, delusion. There's a little delusional hope there. And our, our little hopeful delusion is that even though we're not married, just as two human beings, we can support each other. That's kind of, this is like stuff that's hard to do when you are married or

you are together. So it's really, it's really admirable to be so grown up about it. And I'm happy that it's, is it working out? Yeah, no, it is. It is working out. In fact, him and I laugh a lot. Actually, we're just like, this is hilarious. You know, we, um, he doesn't want to be in a marriage, but yet we're acting like we are in a marriage. So I think the height of our mental health is in question here as well. And, you know, I have a big goofy smile on my face right now is because I just know that we're both committed to just making it better, you know, because it feels like everything's just getting worse and worse by the day. Where is my little guy?

Zara is not the only renter in Toronto feeling tense. Since early summer, hundreds of people in the city have gone on rent strike. Refusing to pay, they say, to fight back against the rising cost of housing. And living in Canada's most populous city is getting more expensive for renters. Toronto rents are up by nearly 5% compared to one year ago. On average, a one-bedroom will set you back just over $2,600 a month. And that's left some people clinging to apartments they don't really want anymore. My name is Catherine

Jasmine. I am currently living in a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto, close to Hyde Park, and I'm paying $1,900 in rent, and I am feeling rent-trapped. Catherine is a German immigrant, and when I spoke with her, she was busy preparing for a flight home. But before she left for the airport, Catherine really wanted to talk. Are you all finished packing for your big trip? Almost, yeah. I just have to shower and then get ready and leave the house. So yeah, oh my god, packing is the worst. It's always such a struggle. There's been plenty of things about rent or mortgages and people struggling with housing and that. But it's always like either it's homeowners whose mortgages have doubled or it's people that literally scrape by and live in really shitty apartments.

But nobody really ever has talked about the middle class and how the middle class is struggling. And yes, we are still very fortunate, but also we're struggling. Catherine lives in a pretty nice neighborhood, but she's not happy with her apartment. And despite being well into a successful career, leaving doesn't seem possible. I feel very rent-trapped or stuck at the moment because I moved to Toronto about a year and a half ago. And this place just

was convenient to where I needed to go for work. And so I took it and it's like a 650 square foot one bedroom apartment. So it's a nice apartment. But I kind of also took it because I thought, we'll see like once I get my footing in the city of where I actually really want to be. So I was kind of like under the gun of choosing a place in order that I'm not like living on the street. And now I have lived here for a year and a half and it is still a nice place, but it's also very loud.

Like there is just constant gardening and garbage trucks and screaming children and it's like I mean it's a big apartment um complex it's like three buildings with 200 units each so it's just loud that's just what it is and so now I can't move because what I'm paying here probably is now like five, six, seven hundred dollars more a month. And it's really wearing me down like mentally. I like whenever I'm off a job, I just have to leave town so that I can like decompress and not be around this noise all the time. I'm just getting so frustrated because I don't have an alternative to where I'm at right now. And being stuck doesn't feel very good, especially as Catherine gets older. It feels paralyzing, really, and really frustrating

because I'm like in my 40s and I didn't see myself still being in a one bedroom rental suite in my 40s. I thought that at this point in my life, I would have been at least able to afford a little home that is a two bedroom so I don't have to work out of my bedroom and that I can have guests over and they can stay a night and they don't have to sleep on the floor. My family is overseas. I would love to be able to host them for a change, but I can't because I don't have the space. So none of my friends and very few of my family have actually visited me in the last 17 years I've been here. You know, even like having a dinner party, I'm like, I only own three chairs. So it's just like it's limiting in your social world as well.

Catherine tells me that if she could get a job elsewhere, she'd be long gone. But this is where her work is. So instead, she lives with a lot of fear about where the rental market is headed. I'm really scared. I mean, I'm even scared of like knowing that I'm getting a rent increase every single year. And like even thinking about, okay, if my rent increases another 100 or $200 a month, I'm gonna be really struggling.

Something needs to happen. Like how come rent can be like skyrocketing, but our salaries are not. And then everybody's telling you, well, you should only be paying a third of your income on your rent. Well, there is, that is not possible. I'm like, well, why can't we just cap rent? Like all of these landlords are like stuffing their pockets with money and the rest of us

is like struggling to get by. It's like something is just completely wrong here right now. It's just like, it's ludicrous. For a little context on what's happening in Ontario, the provincial government capped 2024 rent increases to 2.5%. That's well below inflation. But the cap does not apply to any rental units that came to market in the last several years. That's because in 2018, Doug Ford's newly elected progressive conservative government rolled back rent control on all units built or occupied after November 15th that year. They said it was a strategy to incentivize developers to build more

purpose-built rentals. And according to new housing minister Paul Calandra, the focus has been getting way more rental homes built, something he admits isn't happening fast enough. So there is a lot happening, but we have to move quicker and we have to do more if we're going to meet these targets of building 1.5 million. That's why the task force recommendations are... My name is Saeed Pashaie and I'm 27 years old. I'm an immigrant from Iran. I'm a trans woman and now I live in Toronto.

At the moment I live at my friend's house. They did me a favor, a great favor. I live on the couch and sleep on the floor. I go to English classes to be able to move on with my plans for the future, to be able to get an apartment and get a job. I looked for a new apartment and checked many of them to be able to leave. But unfortunately, it's either too expensive or they would rather not rent the apartment to a member of the LGBTQ community. When I talk about an apartment, I mean just a room. You can't even find a room for $1,000 a month.

Unfortunately, because of all these difficulties, I tolerate my current situation. because of all these difficulties I tolerate my current situation. I feel entrapped because, in my view, first of all, because I'm a trans woman and this society is no different from Iran. The name might be different. They may open a bank account for you or find you a job. But there's no support for finding them a place to live. People like me who come here after years of hardship in Turkey and Iran think this is a salvaging place, their heaven. But I've been living here for the past five months.

I've seen nothing in this country. This dreamy heaven, they say nothing. For one month, I lived in the city that I landed. I was in St. John's in Newfoundland. But here in Toronto, if you ask around, there are a lot of people from our community. I have access to the LGBTQ community and people like myself,

organizations and educational centers here. It's easier for me. All right, that's all for me in Toronto. When we get back, we'll be headed to Vancouver with help from FrontBurner's senior producer Elaine Chao. I guess what goes through your head when you hear about the price of rent going up

so, so much? I feel very sorry for any newcomer in the city. That's where the challenge is.. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment

and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo, 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Cops.

I'm Elaine Chao, and right now I'm walking through the West End, a neighborhood in Vancouver that's home to a lot of rental buildings. Things aren't much better out West in BC than they are in Ontario. Actually, they're slightly worse. The province has the highest proportion of renters spending more than half their income on rent and utilities. I asked people around here whether they felt trapped or stuck in their rental situation. Oh my God, absolutely. And I live with two roommates and I moved here from Ottawa and I lived completely alone. And now I need two roommates and I'm nervous to move out because it is so expensive crazy yeah and um may I ask you how how much you pay for your

situation like describe the situation for me a little bit yeah so it's a three-bedroom apartment two bathroom in right by west like on west fourth and it's 12.50 each so however much but I think we have a really good deal so I'll be there forever. Even though maybe it's your preference to be on your own? One bedroom yeah yeah I like my own space but. All right what's your name? Flannery. Flannery oh what a lovely name I love Flannery O'Connor so you must get get that all the time. Wonderful. I am wondering whether you feel trapped or stuck in your rental situation right now, given how expensive it is in the city. Absolutely. I manage to have, like, not a bad deal.

Like, I pay $13.50, and I'm in the West End. It's a really small studio, but it's, like, pretty good as far as Vancouver goes. So, like, yeah, if I lost that, I'd be in a bad situation for sure. And are you happy with what you have? Or are there certain things that you're, you know, annoyed by in your current rental situation? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of landlords can be a bit difficult to deal with. And I don't want to call anybody out, but mine can be from time to time. I mean, in a perfect world, I'd probably own my own and be my own landlord. But I don't know if

that's a reality that I can achieve in Vancouver. I'm wondering if you feel trapped in your rental situation? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, like rent is always getting expensive, right? And like living conditions aren't getting better. What's your rental situation right now? So I pay about $1,200 including utilities. I have a roommate. It's a one bedroom place. So in total, it's $2,400. Yeah. Okay, it's one bedroom, but you have a roommate. So it's limited. I live in the room and then he lives in the living room. So yeah have our own space yeah yeah yeah and how how big is the space this is

like not a lot like i'm not really good with square footage but like but you're talking about that apartment building over there i'm guessing probably around like 500 square feet or something like that for one bedroom a bit more because it's the corner one but yeah around there yeah i would say yeah right right and this is like we're in a part of town that's a little bit old where there are older rental buildings. Would you ever consider moving out? Does that even feel possible? Actually, no. I actually used to live in like Gastown, which was like much worse. So like this was an upgrade for me. Yeah, honestly. Yeah, but then I'm still in school right now. So like after I graduate, I'll move.

Yeah, that's the plan. I'm still in school right now. So like after I graduate, I'll move. Yeah, that's the plan. In Vancouver, the average price for a one bedroom is now just a little bit less than $3,000 a month and nearly $4,000 for a two bedroom. And those prices, they're only set to go up. In September, the province announced landlords

will be able to raise rents up to 3.5% in 2024. Yes, I'm just subleasing an apartment off another girl. I met someone who had just moved from Australia. Her name is Alice. She's subleasing and living with a roommate. And she considers herself really lucky given the circumstances. You probably know about how expensive it is in the city, how unaffordable it's become for a lot of people. And I'm wondering whether like you feel like you are stuck in the situation that you're in. It's definitely expensive. Before I moved here, I did a lot of research and found out that it's really expensive. I don't know, I wouldn't say I feel stuck, but I think

it'd be challenging to find another place. If you don't mind me asking, what is the cost right now? It's $1,300 a month I'm paying. Okay, and you're sharing a one... Sorry, is it a one-bedroom, two-bedroom? Okay. Compared to what I was paying in Australia, I'm paying roughly the same with the conversion. And I had a two-bedroom apartment to myself in Melbourne. Given how expensive it's gotten in Vancouver, many renters are looking for cheaper housing in neighbouring cities like Surrey, Richmond and Burnaby, driving up rents in those communities in the process. A few weeks ago, I talked to a young woman who feels rent-trapped in Burnaby,

who can't even imagine being able to move out on her own. Hi, my name is Gabrielle Sarno. I live with my older sister and her son. So right now I'm like working three days a week and I give about like half of my salary just for rent. Gabrielle and her family, which includes her sister, nephew, and her brother, rent a three-bedroom apartment. They're originally from Nigeria, and Gabrielle was five when they made the big move. She goes to a local community college on most days, but also works part-time to support her sister. Gabrielle wants to find her own place. She's even looked into it.

Me and my sister, we were very curious to see what the living market was like. So a couple of months ago, we went online and searched up for like a one-bedroom apartment. And the cheapest thing we were able to find was like one that costs $1,200. It was like all the way in Surrey and it was just for the one bedroom. Oh my goodness, like there is no way I could live in that type of environment and at this point I'm going to be living with my older sister for a very long time. That living situation means limited space and not a lot of privacy for each member of the family. means limited space and not a lot of privacy for each member of the family. A lot of the times everybody's in their room and the main living area is like my nephew's to do with whatever he wants to. But like he plays video games and oftentimes I can hear him yelling while I'm trying to study.

So it can be very, very hard to deal with. Our kitchen is a little bit bigger and there's like a huge clear like dining room space. And that's his room at this point. So no privacy at all. And my heart goes to him for that because like I get frustrated when my older sister just like barges into my room without knocking. So I can't imagine what he's going through. Describing where you live and the people you live with to make it work seems like such an innocuous thing. But for Gabrielle, it's also emotional. Having a safe place to live wasn't always a given for her. Honestly, people don't

understand how deeply housing security affects a bunch of people, especially children. Being somebody who's this has always affected. I know what it's like to worry about losing your home and the security of having a place to call home leaves psychological scars. There were times where I knew that she was living paycheck to paycheck and how that affected her. And she would try to be brave and be like, not show us that, you know, sorry, this is very hard to talk about it's very emotional um like she would try to put on a brave face for everybody but we all knew that like how much she was suffering and because we saw that it made us suffer too because you know not knowing whether you had a place to stay the next day it really

put so much stress on everybody. I love going to school I love being a student but the fact that I had to choose between you know putting my education first and getting my basic needs met I I don't think that's fair. So, you know, if whenever they say like students nowadays don't love to learn, it's not that at all. It's the fact that you guys are not giving us the support that we need. That feeling Gabrielle described there of not being supported, I heard that a lot from the renters I spoke to for this episode. But there has been some movement on dealing with the rental crisis here in BC. In late August, the province set up a community housing fund.

The goal there is to build more than 20,000 affordable rental homes for moderate and low-income people by 2032. And just last week, Housing Minister Ravi Kallon laid out some new rules for short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo. We are not targeting the hosts who may rent out their house when they leave on a vacation or someone who rents out a room in Airbnb. or someone who rents out a room in Airbnb. But those are you that are renting out dozens of short-term rentals to make a huge profit while taking away homes for people. You should probably be thinking about a new profit scheme in the very near future.

Finance Minister Christopher Freeland applauded the province, saying the federal government is considering action as well. Speaking of Ottawa, on Monday, Federal Housing Minister Sean Frazier spoke about the government's Housing Accelerator Fund. It's a multi-billion dollar program with funding to increase the supply of housing that is affordable. Frankly, I could say that the fund to date is outperforming my own very high expectations for it. And certainly, if you look at a longer time horizon, the goal of $100,000 over three years,

which we set at the beginning, will certainly be eclipsed. And in September, the Prime Minister announced the government will remove the GST from new purpose-built rental apartment buildings. Before we wrap up here, I'd like to return to Zahra, the Toronto wedding officiant we heard from at the beginning of this episode. Here's our producer Shannon with a final question. Would you have a message for leadership right now about what needs to happen? Here's our producer Shannon with a final question. Why? Why do we need to do this? The suffering is too much. I don't understand why our government, to me it feels like, would continue to choose to break down a city through this lack of housing. It's not even about rent control.

It's also the lack of inventory for us as well and how competitive it is. And gosh, I also want to talk to the landlord. It's not even just the government. I want to speak to the other people in power and how, how do we live in a world where you can raise the rent by $500 a month. Our salaries aren't going up? Or am I getting paid an extra five? Where is this money coming from? Do I get to turn to my boss and say, hey, listen, I've decided I want $500 extra a month in income. So, you know, how absurd is that? All right, that's all for today. A special thank you to our CBC Montreal colleague, Atefe Padidar, for her translation work.

I'm Elaine Chao. Thank you for listening to FrontBurner.