BRAMPTON, ONTARIO — A mother looking to rent a home for her family is blowing the whistle on landlords who she says have outlandish expectations. In an interview, Georgena explained that she has viewed 22 homes, and applied for 12 in their Brampton neighborhood. Despite that, she’s been unable to secure housing for her family.
Georgena says that finding a home in their neighborhood is crucial as she wants to keep her kids in their current school. She told The Brandon Gonez Show that her children currently attend a school with programs that have had huge benefits for her daughter’s education.
With the size of her family, Georgena is looking for a 3-4 bedroom unit and says that the current price range on the market in Brampton starts at around $2,900 a month and can go upwards of $4,000. Despite this, she says that she wasn’t concerned about being approved.
“I have a great partner, and together we have a household income of $120,000 a year,” she explained, adding that they have no debt and great credit scores, so they find it confusing that they could be struggling to find a place to rent.
But the young mother says that she is constantly being pushed out of securing a lease by potential renters who can afford to pay multiple months of rent upfront.
“One agent told me that another potential tenant offered to give the landlord four months of rent up front,” she explained, adding that the tenants were four working adults, while she and her partner have two children.
“It just doesn’t seem normal to me that landlords can have these expectations,” Georgena told The Brandon Gonez Show, adding that four months of rent for the unit her family applied for would be almost $10,000.
Some Tenants Offering a Year of Rent Up Front
Another agent told Georgena that some people are offering landlords one year of rent up front. She explained that in the current market she’s found that many people have been forced to sell their homes, but are unable to buy so they have a lump sum to work from with.
“I understand that this is a competitive market, but it’s getting out of hand,” Georgena shared.
She’s now calling on local politicians to address the ongoing housing crisis in Ontario.
“The housing crisis isn’t a speaking point during voting season, it’s a real problem,” She shared, explaining that she doesn’t feel that elected officials are doing enough to combat the crisis in Ontario.
She also added that her family finds it strange that with rents being so high across Brampton and throughout the province, more people can’t afford to buy homes with current lending requirements.
“How can the bank not approve someone for a mortgage when I pay $30K a year in rent?” she said, adding that a mortgage would be considerably less.
Others Agree that Brampton Officials Need to Step in
We all know that the GTA housing market is intense right now, and some new data backs that up. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) the average rent for a one-bedroom unit in the Greater Toronto Area in the second quarter of 2022 increased by 20.2% year-over-year to $2,269. Meantime, the average two-bedroom rent was up by 15.3% to a whopping $2,979.
“Competition between renters continues to heat up, resulting in extremely strong upward pressure on average rents. Rental supply remains a major issue in the GTA and will become more pronounced in the short term, as an increasing share of well-employed individuals turn to the rental market,” TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer said in a release.
He also agrees that officials need to address the ongoing issue.
“Policymakers need to develop a diversity of options to bring more rental supply online, whether we’re talking about investor-held condominium apartments or purpose-built rental developments,” Mercer continued.
While online, people have been sharing their concerns about the Brampton rental market and calling on local officials to help for MONTHS!
