Middle Class Torontonians Feeling the Squeeze

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Mar 02, 2017 | Vote 0 0 Middle class Torontonians feeling the squeeze Residents struggle to stay aﬂoat as income disparity in Toronto grows

Beach Mirror By Joanna Lavoie

North York resident Cathleen Trinh, mom to three-year-old Charlie, keeps a fairly tight rein on her finances. MOST READ SEE MORE Trinh, who RELATED STORIES works in Ontario registered nurses to Richmond Hill, be Canada's first to prescribe medication A reality check for directs a Millennials... notable portion of her earnings to child care. 16-hour video game binges almost ruined Calgary teen’s “It is manageable with my income. I’m life pretty lucky, but it could be better,” said Trinh, who is on a waiting list for a child Money Matters Collapsed house in care subsidy. “The Canada Child Tax Joanna Lavoie/Metroland Leslieville to be demolished Benefit helps me a lot.” Social Planning Toronto executive director Sean Meagher advocates for affordable living in the city. Since becoming a single mom a year ago, Trinh said she’s learned a lot more about how to access government 1/4 People in Toronto's underserved areas are resources and tax breaks. She’s currently getting residents into parks working to save up enough money to purchase a property in the city. SIDEBAR “One of the major financial challenges is Ontario Works and ODSP trying to own something. It’s basically Middle Class Challenges aren't enough to live on, impossible,” admitted Trinh, who came to Toronto residents say Canada from Germany 14 years ago. “I ANDREEA GASCA have not given up hope on home A Beach resident for 16 years, Andreea Gasca is prepared to ownership, but I’m not ready for it yet. make sacrifices so that her 12-year-old daughter Nikita can Maybe in the next year if the prices aren’t reap the benefits of growing up in a diverse, multicultural city. crazy.” Ad Tech Module has not been configured. “I’m staying in Toronto because of what it can teach my child. I Trinh’s situation is a common one for want my daughter to have an open mind. From an arts and people in Toronto who earn between LOCAL GUIDE ! culture standpoint, Toronto offers so much,” shared Gasca, $40,000 and $90,000 annually. who works for the Attorney General’s office. Danielle C., a mother of young two sons BUSINESSES RECENT ADS Originally from Montreal, Gasca said to stay afloat she’s had from East York, would love to own her to find creative ways to stretch a dollar. own home in the city but realizes it’s just not possible with her family’s $80,000 annual income and their current monthly “We’ve developed an addiction to Value Village and the expenditures, which includes $2,000 for Facebook (buy and sell) groups. You have to find ways to daycare. make it work,” said Gasca, who has only taken one vacation in “We could afford the mortgage payment 12 years. “It’s tough to get ahead, to make ends meet.” but the challenge is to pay down our consumer debt and save for the down payment,” said Danielle, who asked to not Gasca said inflation is a key reason why she struggles to get use her full name for privacy reasons. ahead even if her income has increased in recent years. “Five years would be the earliest my IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD TODAY ALICIA PENNY partner and I could consider a house, if all TOP 10 PLACES TO TWIRL things fall into place.” Scarborough resident Alicia Penny, her partner, and their two- SPAGHETTI year-old son, Elijah, are also working hard to stay afloat. If you are connected to the internet, Regardless, she said the benefits of city you are connected to Toronto's Menu Toronto is home and she feels her family has the right to live life, notably its diversity, walkability, and Palace, the go to site to... here. access to public transit, outweigh the dream of home ownership. “Our roots are here. It’s just too much to up and move THE MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE somewhere else where you don’t know anybody,” she told WHEN HIRING HOME RENOVATION A decade ago, University of Toronto CONTRACTORS Metroland Media Toronto. professor David Hulchanski published a We are in the thick of winter here in the GTA but it won’t be too long before we groundbreaking report, Three Cities Penny, who has lived in the city for the majority of her life, said are back into the... Within Toronto, which looked at income one of the challenges her young family faces is the cost of polarization in Toronto by neighbourhood housing. CREATE POSITIVE THOUGHT PATTERNS THROUGH YOGA from 1970 to 2005. If you’re having trouble letting go of “It requires a lot of juggling,” she admitted. negativity and embracing your future, In early 2015, Hulchanski and his team of you’re invited to... researchers provided an update to that Both Penny, who works in landscaping, and her partner, a initial report. They found that the city’s mechanic by trade, are both currently receiving disability benefits. She said the challenge is that any extra income ATTIC INSULATION SHOULD BE wealth is becoming even more THE HIGHEST PRIORITY IN A HOME concentrated in the central part of the city earned or any savings or assets they had are counted against RETROFIT them. When it comes to improving your with less affluent areas growing in home's efficiency, you probably think of retrofitting the most... Toronto's outer limits. The findings, which “It’s tough to get ahead,” she said. still ring true today, also show that the average income is rising significantly in SPONSORED CONTENT VIEW MORE downtown and the north end, essentially pushing out those who earn less.

Sean Meagher, executive director of Social Planning Toronto, spends his days advocating for affordability for Toronto’s roughly one million households. Together with his team, he works to build a Toronto where everyone has the “means to participate” in society. WEEKLY FLYERS “We don’t want people pushed into pockets. We want people to be able to live everywhere in the city and afford to do so,” he said. “I think it’s valuable (to the city) and an investment we have to make.”

Recently, the council has been pushing Toronto to do better in a campaign of the same name. Part of “Toronto Can Do Better” includes lobbying the city to look at the bigger picture and invest in transit, good jobs, and ← → affordable housing in its 2017 budget.

“Our view is, let’s budget smart. We want a plan that makes sense. It’s about making choices that meet our needs versus the numbers we like,” he said, pointing to the importance of considering interconnections like the health beneﬁts of providing people with affordable, quality housing when it comes to city budgeting.

Social Planning Toronto has also been working to help politicians better understand how budget cuts directly impact real people’s lives and how adding to the city’s coffers through a small property tax increase can be beneﬁcial for all.

WoodGreen Community Services, a long-standing social service agency in east Toronto, is one of many organizations across the city helping Torontonians ﬁnd ways to afford their lives and thrive.

“Income stress affects all income levels. You don’t have to be in the lowest income bracket to feel the stress of affordability,” said Diane Dyson, director of research and public policy. “We help people who are trying to ﬁnd resources.” 56% at Gino's Pizza Up to 42% off Dyson and her colleagues work to better understand how decisions made by the government directly affect Toronto Cruises people’s lives, and identify and improve the “missing pieces” in the system. A major part of their work is addressing the lack of affordable housing in Toronto. $10 $33 For Steven Vanderherberg, the agency's director of strategic initiatives, it’s all about helping people living with less ﬁnd the right balance of income and expenses, and to help them be autonomous and better “afford their View Deal View Deal lives.”

WoodGreen runs year-long income tax clinics as well as a host of Financial Empowerment Services to help people increase their ﬁnancial literacy, manage their debt, create a budget, access government income sources. View All Deals

-with ﬁles from Torstar News MORE MONEY MATTERS Joanna Lavoie is a staff reporter for the Beach Mirror and www.InsideToronto.com. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Free income tax clinics for west end Toronto residents

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