ONPHA 2012 Waiting Lists Survey Report

Since 2004, ONPHA has conducted an annual survey of Ontario’s 47 service managers to document the number of households on waiting lists for rent-geared-to-income-assisted housing across the province.

156,358 households were waiting for affordable, rent-geared-to-income housing in Ontario as of December 31, 2011. The number of waiting households has increased every year for the past five years. Since the start of the economic downturn in 2007, when the waiting list total was 124,032, the number of waiting households has increased by 32,326 households or 26%. The rate of growth slowed somewhat in 2011, with the number of households increasing by 2.9 per cent after increases of 7.2 per cent in 2010 and 9.4 per cent in 2009.

Ontario faces a serious affordable housing shortage for all household types, including seniors, families with children and, greatest of all, singles and childless couples under 65. The number of seniors waiting for housing has grown steadily since 2004, reaching 39,463
households – one-quarter of all waiting households – at the end 2011. The number of family households decreased by 1.5 per cent over the past year, but there are still 56,130 households with children in need. In 2011, single people and childless couples under age 65 formed the largest demographic for the first time, with 58,995 households on the wait list. Singles under 65 face the highest poverty rates in the province, with fewer options for affordable housing.

18,495 households were housed in affordable, rent-geared-to-income housing in 2011. The turnover rate in existing rent-geared-to-income housing in the province was about 10 percent in 2011. In some municipalities, households were housed in new affordable developments built with federal-provincial funding, proving that a municipal commitment to affordable housing backed by federal and provincial dollars makes a difference.

Most households housed in 2011 waited on average between 2 and 4 years, with some households housed in less than a month, and others waiting 10 years or more. Actual wait times vary significantly depending on location, household type, and priority status. Average wait times were shorter for applicants with Special Priority Policy status for victims of domestic violence or Local Priority status. Seniors tend to have shorter wait times, and singles and childless couples under 65 have the longest wait times.

These wait times also speak to the persistence of poverty: the people in these households were living on low incomes when they applied for housing, and were still living in poverty when offered housing years later.

For every household housed, three new applications were received. 63,323 new households applied for housing in 2011. Demand far exceeds supply: in all areas, the number of new applications outpaced the number of households housed, and in some service manager areas, the number of new applications in 2011 was greater than the total number of waiting households at the end of 2010.

Service managers cite challenging economic conditions, increases in housing costs and the loss of affordable rental stock, along with the aging population and family breakdown due to domestic violence as factors influencing waiting lists in their areas.

For every household housed, more than 2.5 households dropped off waiting lists. 45,545 applications were cancelled in 2011. A household may request to be removed from waiting lists, and service managers may also cancel applications where applicants have not responded to requests for information for incomplete applications or annual/bi-annual updates.

While some households may cancel because they no longer need help, others drop off due to discouragement in the face of long wait times.

Ontario faces a serious shortage of affordable housing. Federal-provincial investments over the past 7 years have led to the creation of new affordable units across the province, taking some pressure off the waiting lists. However, new affordable housing is not being built in sufficient quantity to meet the growing demand, and, in many cases, the rents for these units are not affordable to households on waiting lists without an additional subsidy.

Municipalities now have responsibility for the planning and delivery of affordable housing options in their communities, and a local commitment to affordable housing is vital to addressing this shortage. But municipalities do not have the resources to do this alone.