For families, individuals and seniors in need of low-rent housing controlled by the County of Simcoe, the wait is about five to seven years.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, 4,664 households are on the county’s centralized rent-geared-to-income housing wait list.
The average wait time on the list for a family or individual is more than seven years. Those escaping abuse are prioritized, but the wait time is still an average of more than four years.
These and other sobering statistics on the current state of the county’s social housing wait list were presented in a report as part of Friday’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee meeting.
“We’re steadily climbing but not at an overly fast rate, which, I guess, is a silver lining,” said committee chair and Tiny Township Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma.
The report provides data on the centralized wait list for rent-geared-to-income assistance as of Dec. 31, 2021.
Of the 4,664 households on the list, 1,315 (28 per cent) are families, 2,430 (52 per cent) are adults with no dependants and 919 (20 per cent) are seniors. This represents an increase of 2.6 per cent overall compared to the 2020 wait list.
During the meeting, Greg Bishop, general manager of social and community services, acknowledged the need has increased county-wide, even since Dec. 31, 2021.
“Across the province and Simcoe County, of course, the need is greater. It continues to be, partly because of the pandemic and partly because of limited housing supply,” he said.
The county has approximately 3,000 rent-geared-to-income units available, but only has access to 2,772 units as former federal providers are not mandated to participate in the centralized wait-list system.
When applying through the county’s process, applicants are entered into RENTCafe, a common housing sector database.
The database captures information regarding the applicants’ personal and emergency contact information, household composition, past rental history, current income and housing location preferences.
Applicants’ information is updated annually or each time applicants’ reports a change in their circumstances.
Once approved to go on the list, special-priority applicants (those escaping abuse or who have been trafficked) are put at the top of the list, while all other applicants are added in chronological order.
Sara Peddle, task force member and executive director of the Busby Centre, noted concern that individuals and families are removed from the list if the county is unable to contact the applicant.
In 2021, the county processed 1,606 new applications and cancelled 1,436.
“My concern is when we see cancellation because of non-contact, especially in the homeless population, because contact can be a challenge when they don’t have phones,” said Peddle.
Bishop said the most frequent reasons for lack of contact can include the applicant has moved out of the area or found housing through other means.
“If they get cancelled, we refer to it as, basically, asking them to step out of line because we can’t reach them,” said applicant tenant services supervisor Debbie Harris. “If they do pop up or we find them later on, there’s no penalty. We reinstate them and they stay on the list with their original date.”
Time spent on the wait list varies depending on personal circumstances.
When including special-priority applicants, current wait times are 6.8 years for seniors, 4.3 years for those with no dependants and 2.9 years for applicants with dependants. The average wait time overall is 4.7 years.
When taking the special-priority applicants out of the equation, current wait times are 7.4 years for seniors, 9.4 years for those with no dependants and 5.2 years for applicants with dependants. The average wait time overall is 7.3 years.
In 2021, 182 new households were housed in rent-geared-to-income units county-wide. The average turnover of units over the past three years was 6.9 per cent.
