ONPHA 2011 Waiting Lists Survey Report

In early 2011, a survey was conducted on behalf of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association by Tim Welch Consulting Inc. to collect waiting list statistics from the 47 Municipal Service Manager areas in Ontario. Since 2004, ONPHA has released its annual Waiting Lists Statistics Report to provide an up-to-date picture of the number of households on waiting lists for affordable housing in Ontario and the length of time they must wait to be housed.

In January 2011, 152,077 households were on waiting lists for assisted housing – up 7.4% in one year. The number of households looking for assisted housing across Ontario grew by 10,442 households from January 2010 – an increase of 7.4% in one year.

This is the second consecutive year of significant increases in the number of waiting households, following a 9.6% increase from 2009 to 2010. In the two year period from January 2009 to January 2011, there was an increase of 22,824 households on waiting lists for financially assisted housing in Ontario, representing a 17.7% increase from the 129,253 households on waiting lists in 2009.

Seniors, families and singles all showed increasing waiting list figures. This increase in the number of households on active waiting lists reflects the effects of the recession over the past two years. The wait list report survey asked Service Managers whether there were any noticeable trends that have occurred over the last year in their waiting list statistics. A number of them commented on the impact of the recession increasing the waiting list figures. While the unemployment rate in Ontario may have eased from its recessionary peak, the reality is that many Ontarians are living through a period of uncertain economic recovery with reduced work hours, lost jobs or new jobs at lower wages. This reality has meant that many more people have had to seek financially assisted housing and have applied to local housing waiting lists.

The current provincial vacancy rate decreased from 3.5% in October 2009 to 2.9% as of October 2010 and average rents continued to increase as a typical two bedroom apartment rent increased by 1.9%. Higher rents and tighter rental markets put a squeeze on moderate and low-income renters, thus pushing more of them to apply for assisted housing.

The 2011 survey asked waiting list staff for their opinion as to whether the length of the waitlist discourages a significant portion of eligible applicants from applying. More than two-thirds of responses indicated that many households, discouraged by long wait times, simply do not bother to apply as their need for housing is often immediate.