Zachary McDonald is a 28-year-old student at Seneca College. He is a first semester Journalism student.
McDonald left a full-time job in Hamilton to move to Toronto to study at Seneca. He got a part-time job at a Starbucks. Everything seemed fine until the coronavirus hit.
Though considered an essential service, the Starbucks outlet McDonald works with was shut down because the location was not busy enough and they operated at a loss. He is currently out of work, without a means of livelihood. He is worried he wont be able to afford living in Toronto.
McDonald hopes to be a beneficiary of The Canadian emergency response benefit(CERB), promised by the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. This benefit plan will provide a taxable benefit of $2,000 a month for up to 4 months to eligible workers who have lost their income due to COVID-19.
With classes moving online, McDonald is not the only student who is considering moving to other cities, due to the standard of living in Toronto.
Liza Walters is a 21-year-old student at York University. She is studying Business Administration and is currently in her third year.She doesn’t have any student debt thanks to help from her parents with paying her university fees.
Before the virus was declared a global pandemic, she had plans of combining resources with her younger brother to buy a condo in Toronto. As of today, that is not the case.
There are other people of diverse age groups, facing affordability crisis in the city.
Once this crisis is over McDonald and Walters plan to return to Toronto to finish their studies.
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