With the percentage of renters increasing in Ontario and across Canada, the affordable housing crisis is becoming truly untenable — especially for our country’s most vulnerable populations. Renters in Ontario now make up over 30% of the total population, and here in Toronto, we’ve now become the second most expensive city in Canada for rentals and the most expensive for buying a home, according to recent statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Housing is increasingly becoming more and more unaffordable — with a median income in Toronto of just over $35,000 a year, housing costs are terribly out of sync with incomes. Too many people are having to make impossible decisions about whether they’ll pay for their groceries, their essential medications, or their rent each month.

“I think it’s all intertwined: inflation, housing […] and then COVID came and a lot of people ended up unemployed, especially in the manual labour market,” explains Jiin Yiong, Nellie’s program director. “And so it drove the working class into poverty even more, and then the inflation came. I think for a lot of immigrant families especially, you now have to keep two to three jobs to maintain a roof over your head and food on the table.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current housing crisis, Nellie’s is continuing to see an increase in clients who need housing support. Our Transitional Housing Support Program helps women who have left situations of violence, poverty, and homelessness access safe and affordable housing. Through this program, Nellie’s assists women with the application process for subsidized housing, as well as with safety planning, crisis support, and advocacy.

In addition to working with women to secure housing, our staff also connects them to community resources in their area so that they will have the support and tools they need to establish themselves once they move into their new homes. We also assist clients with finding furniture and other household items that help make a house feel like a home.

As part of Nellie’s continued efforts to collaborate with community and strategic partners, our greater goal is not only to improve our crisis response, but to also further work on eviction prevention. Currently our staff is working to increase our outreach by visiting more community drop-in centres to lead workshops on housing-related topics, including tenant rights, budgeting, and more.

“Providing accurate information is crucial for eviction prevention,” says Jiin. Misinformation is easily spread, especially in vulnerable housing communities. Jiin gives an example of a client she recently worked with who was told by her landlord that she needs to leave because she’s living in a bachelor apartment with her two children. But legally, a landlord must apply for and receive an eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board in order to begin the process of eviction — they can’t just give you verbal or written instructions to force you to leave. Unfortunately, many landlords use intimidation as a tactic, and women in vulnerable situations, especially new immigrants, will often just do what they’re told for fear of greater repercussions.

“We want to provide the support for our clients who require immediate support, but instead of just responding to the immediacy of it, there’s got to be some things we can do to prevent it,” says Jiin. “I think prevention is the most important, because then you don’t send people into crisis.”