“ If rent control were suddenly to cease, many families would suddenly be confronted by the danger of eviction or the necessity to find other accommodation because they could not afford to stay where they are. ”

This quotation is an excerpt from an article published in the Toronto Star in the early 1950s, during the same era that our agency opened its doors. Entitled “The Middle Class Housing Crisis,” the article stated that housing for middle and lower-income families was in acutely short supply in the post-war boom.

When our agency opened in 1956, recent economic growth had fostered the growth of the middle class. In most households, a single wage earner provided for larger families: 15% of families had six or more people compared to less than 2% today. Rental housing was available in single family or semi detached houses.

The article referenced the release of a national survey by the Canadian Welfare Council and suggested that middle class and lower income families needed protection against rising rents. None of the families in the 1950 study were in receipt of ‘relief.’

Families who were included had monthly incomes between $125 and $175 and paid between $25 and $35 per month rent, therefore had shelter to income ratios of 20%. In 2005, lower income families served by our agency faced shelter to income ratios above 70%.

Shelter to income levels this high are not sustainable for long without triggering housing insecurity and bouts of homelessness. We cannot help but hope for a return to those housing security levels considered to be a crisis in the 1950s.