{"id":4766,"date":"2021-06-01T14:52:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T18:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/hamilton-spectator-vital-signs-problem-hamiltons-rental-market\/"},"modified":"2021-06-01T14:52:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T18:52:39","slug":"hamilton-spectator-vital-signs-problem-hamiltons-rental-market","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/news\/hamilton-spectator-vital-signs-problem-hamiltons-rental-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton Spectator: Vital Signs: The problem with Hamilton\u2019s \u2018Hunger Games\u2019 rental market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPosted June 1, 2021<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"In her daily online searches for apartment rental listings in Hamilton, Miranda Alessi recently came across a two-bedroom unit that looked familiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tComplete with a washer-dryer, it was listed for about $1,700.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brock University student quickly realized she had seen the same apartment online roughly three years ago. The monthly cost then? Less than $1,400.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me how (prices) could go up so high in such a short period of time,\u201d the 25-year-old said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tAlessi, who was laid off from her job as a legal assistant during the pandemic, said her partner\u2019s steady income was a saving grace, allowing the pair to land a two-bedroom unit near Bay Street South and Main Street West for $1,650 per month, including parking. They plan to move in this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was very hard to find a place that was decent for that amount,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tSoaring rental prices are one of several housing-related challenges highlighted in the Hamilton Community Foundation\u2019s annual Vital Signs report. And they go hand in hand with rental shortages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re literally into a \u2018Hunger Games\u2019 scenario in which people are competing in an impossible market,\u201d said Terry Cooke, president and CEO at the Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the city should work to \u201chold landlords to a higher standard, (that) in and of itself is not going to solve this problem if we don\u2019t deal with the issue of supply,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tCiting a 2020 rental market report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the foundation noted rents in Hamilton climbed 49 per cent over the past decade \u2014 more than double the cost of living increase. In the past year alone, rents for a two-bedroom unit jumped 25 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tJeff Wingard, a project manager at the foundation who analyzed the data, said average rental prices are \u201cnuanced\u201d because rates paid for occupied and vacant units can vary dramatically.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019ve usually been pretty close, but they\u2019re not anymore,\u201d said Wingard, with the average rent for a vacant two-bedroom unit increasing to $2,057 in March 2021 from $1,639 a year earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tIf a property owner has a tenant who has been renting for years and only paying $700 a month, \u201cthere is an economic benefit\u201d for the owner to renovate the unit and rent it to a new tenant, he added. \u201cSo, it puts pressure on existing tenancies as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tSuch renoviction scenarios are playing out in buildings across Hamilton, including at a two-storey walk-up at 309 Strathearne Ave., where Darlene Wesley and her neighbours are fighting a legal notice to leave for renovations. Wesley, who has a chronic lung disease, has lived in the building for almost two decades and pays about $665 per month in rent from her disability support.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s horrible, not knowing where you\u2019re going to go,\u201d said Wesley, a member of tenant advocacy group ACORN\u2019s east-end chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tFor those looking to pay less than $1,000 per month, the options are limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to data provided by the CMHC, the average rent for a vacant bachelor unit in Hamilton in October 2020 was $921; $1,176 for a vacant one-bedroom; and $1,355 for a vacant two-bedroom. In occupied units, the average rent was about $185 less than that each month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tRenters aren\u2019t the only ones in the city grappling with unaffordability. Prospective homebuyers are also up against a swelling market, with a recent study showing Hamilton is the third-least affordable metro area for housing in North America, behind only Vancouver and Toronto.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony Passarelli, a senior analyst at CMHC for the area, said he expects sales activity to cool from an \u201cunsustainable\u201d level this spring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf things continue to moderate \u2026 it will affect the rental market a bit, but we\u2019re at a point where affordability has really deteriorated in home ownership,\u201d Passarelli said, adding he doesn\u2019t expect to see many first-time potential buyers who are now renting find a home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t*** <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tArticle by Vjosa Isai for the Hamilton Spectator<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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