I’ve been googling how to be a decent adult, not die of scabies in Toronto, etc., and I come to learn that your rent is considered ‘affordable’ only if it takes up no more than 1/3 of your monthly income. I say: PAH! Who in the hell is paying their living expenses and then banking 66% of their income—not me or anyone I know, that’s for sure.
Right now, my rent is $540, hydro runs me about $40-50, internet $60, which means I’m paying around $650 a month for a vaguely functional, occasionally leaky, living space. I made about $1080 a month teaching (I know, I know, a very lucrative career choice), which means that 60% of my income went towards apartment-age.
And, despite leaks, I’ve lived here pretty comfortably—I mean, I probably eat more raman than is considered explicitly ‘healthy,’ but ain’t no thang: I wear away the sodium biking everywhere.*
Anyways, I’ve been looking into apartments in the GTA via kijiji.ca and the situation isn’t so dire as I had imagined. You can get a pretty stellar apartment for $800-900 incl., which, I think, means I only have to rake in $1,300-1,400 a month. It comes down to finding a $12 an hour job for a little under 30 hours a week. I feel that this is very much within my capabilities. If I can teach university, I can, er, serve coffee, right?
I think I can. And so I now dedicate myself to finding a lodging that’s ‘affordable’ for real people.
*That statement really has no basis in any kind of medical science. My body is probably overburdened with sodium at all times.
