by Ana Luiza Albacete
Juan Teangas, a Seneca Television student, pays $1,500 dollars for a one-bedroom condo in East York. Even though he shares the place with his wife, according to Teangas, he does not think it is a fair amount, since he lives far away from campus and in a small place:
“I come from South America and I am not used to pay more than half of my incomes in rent. Where I come from rent for a big and decent place is like 30 per cent of incomes”.
For most students the cost of rent is causing a lot of trouble. Most of their income is going to pay their rent. Some students at Seneca College are opting to live far from downtown or their campus just to afford to live in a nice place.
According to a report by Rental.ca, rents have increased across all units in the city over the month of October. Rents started spiking in March because of inflation. The Bank of Canada is trying to control inflation by hiking interest rates. They have been increased six times so far this year. TRREB, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, reports the increases are affecting the rental market and making the rent go up at least 9.2 per cent.
Right now the average prices for a studio in GTA can be as much as $1,900 a month. A one-bedroom can go for $2.120 to $2.502, a two-bedroom $2.828 to $3.353. TRREB says the increasing interest rates are a double whammy on the rental market. Landlords want to increase rents to cover higher mortgage payments on their property, meanwhile, young people are choosing to continue to rent longer because they cannot afford the mortgage on a first home, increasing demand for scarce apartments.
Sabina Wong shares a one-bedroom in downtown Toronto with a childhood friend and a cat. She and her roommate pay $2,000 a month for their 600ft condo. Sabina lives in the room and her friend lives in the living room. Sabina is used to high rents,”because I come from Hong Kong and I cannot compare because the rent there is insane”.
Although many students are trying their best to manage, there are some students like Maria Cristina Torres who have found affordable housing. She was lucky enough to find a full basement near the Finch station for 600 dollars. She does not share with anyone else. Maria says that she is glad she found this place but she doesn’t think it is good to live in a basement since it is depressing and it can affect your mental health. Maria is planning to eventually move downtown with some friends. She’ll have to share to make rent more affordable.
In 2022 international students have been struggling to provide for themselves since they were only allowed to work 20 hours per week outside campus. But since November 15, international students can work full time outside campus. However, they cannot drop school or make the classes part-time. This new rule was announced by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser on October 7th.
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