“Low wages, high rent, people are leaving the city- living in the GTA is becoming difficult.”

July 31, 2025

RED FM News Desk

In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), buying or renting a home has become extremely expensive. The situation has become so difficult that even essential workers like nurses, teachers, construction workers, and transit staff are choosing to leave the area, simply because they can no longer afford to live there.

According to a report by CivicAction, even people earning between $40,000 and $125,000 a year are struggling to afford housing in the GTA. Many families are spending more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments. This financial strain is forcing people to ask difficult questions like, “Should we even have children?” or “How can we care for our aging parents?”

From 2014 to 2024, about 550,000 people moved out of the GTA to more affordable regions. In a recent survey, 70% of respondents said they are either considering leaving the city or changing careers because of the high cost of housing. CivicAction warns that this migration and instability is costing the region an estimated $7 billion in GDP.

Meanwhile, new housing policies aren’t helping the situation. In Brampton, a new bylaw is being proposed that would allow rental buildings to be demolished and replaced with new developments. However, these new units are much more expensive and are not subject to rent control. Advocacy groups like ACORN argue that tenants being displaced from older buildings cannot afford to move into the new ones.

Take the story of Christine Miller, a 56-year-old teacher. She once had a stable job and home, but now she’s on Employment Insurance and taking care of her mother. Christine says she’s overwhelmed by expenses such as car payments and her mortgage. She also believes that young teachers or people starting families, especially single individuals, simply cannot survive under current conditions.

Both Christine and Civic Action suggest potential solutions: increasing wages for essential jobs, reducing rent and interest rates, and encouraging collaboration between government, developers, and the province. They also call for bold, concrete policies similar to those implemented during the pandemic.