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How much does it cost to live here? A lot...
06 October 2010
How much money do you need to live in Collingwood? A lot. And more is required every year, it seems, as user fees, taxes and utility bills continue to climb.
I received a sobering report, recently, about the costs of local housing compared with typical, local wages. It's an eye-opener for all of us, particularly our newcomer council candidates who have not participated in the discussions over the past terms about income, taxes, rates and costs of living.*
Take for example, a retail clerk or hospitality sector worker, making $1,435 a month ($17,220 a year). Based on $10.25 an hour (minimum wage), that's 140 hours of work a month - full time employment. Keep in mind as you read this that many retail and hospitality sector workers are only employed part-time and either have to get a second job to make ends meet, or depend on a spouse or partner to help pay the bills.
The basic assumption is that 30% of your income can go to shelter costs and leave you enough to live on. So for a retail clerk, that's $430 a month for rent.
According to the report, the average cost of a room rental in Collingwood is $444 a month (utilities included). That's a single room in a rooming or boarding house.
A bachelor apartment is $688 (utilities not included) and a one-bedroom apartment is $780 (utilities not included).
So two minimum-wage earners living together can afford a one-bedroom apartment. But at $900 plus utilities, a two-bedroom may be too expensive for them.
A personal support worker, making $2,377 a month, can afford a one-bedroom apartment, but not a two-bedroom.
With an average house price of more than $272,000, you need an income of almost $80,000 to own a home (based on a monthly payment of $2,121). A couple of minimum wage earners together bring in under $35,000 a year - just over 40% of the income they need to own the average home in Collingwood.
What's really scary is the figures for seniors. With base OAS and a few supplements, a single senior gets $1,173 a month. That allows for shelter costs of $352 a month. That's 20 percent less than the average single room in this town, and barely half of the cost of a bachelor apartment without utilities.
Okay, say you're a senior living in a bachelor apartment. You get roughly $1,200 a month in income. You spend $688 on your rent, plus another $100 or so on water and electricity**. That leaves roughly $535 a month for food, phone, transportation, insurance, pets (if you have one), household items and repairs, entertainment, prescription drugs, glasses, shoes, clothes, laundry (you'll have to go to a laundromat), Christmas gifts, beer or wine, Internet, TV... about $124 a week for every other expense you have.
That's a pretty thin income to survive on. If you have cable TV, you pay about $20 a week for it. A phone adds another $12-15 a week. That leaves about $90 for everything else. Car insurance is around $20-$25 a week (plus there's gas, oil, repairs, maintenance, etc.). Home/life insurance about the same. Not much left for food...
A couple of seniors aren't really any more comfortable. With a base income of $1,901 a month, they can comfortably afford $570 a month for shelter - less than the average bachelor apartment rents for here. In a one-bedroom place, they have $1,121 left over for all the rest of their needs, or less than $260 a week. About $200 a week if they have a phone, cable TV and a car.
Seniors fare marginally better than Ontario Disability Support recipients, who get $1,042 a month. Even with a single child to care for, they receive only $1,794 - which isn't even enough to comfortably support renting a bachelor apartment!
You can read the entire report here. It's a chilling dip into the cold reality of how much it costs to live here in Collingwood. And another reason to push for more affordable housing in this town. Our next council must to fight to keep municipal costs - like taxes and user fees - low!.
~~~~~
* Who can forget Councillor Labelle's infamous remark about low wage earners and hospitality sector workers faced with a four-percent annual rise in water bills approved by council: "We should tip them more."
** Allowing $50 a month, but it will be more if the apartment is heated by electricity.
I received a sobering report, recently, about the costs of local housing compared with typical, local wages. It's an eye-opener for all of us, particularly our newcomer council candidates who have not participated in the discussions over the past terms about income, taxes, rates and costs of living.*
Take for example, a retail clerk or hospitality sector worker, making $1,435 a month ($17,220 a year). Based on $10.25 an hour (minimum wage), that's 140 hours of work a month - full time employment. Keep in mind as you read this that many retail and hospitality sector workers are only employed part-time and either have to get a second job to make ends meet, or depend on a spouse or partner to help pay the bills.
The basic assumption is that 30% of your income can go to shelter costs and leave you enough to live on. So for a retail clerk, that's $430 a month for rent.
According to the report, the average cost of a room rental in Collingwood is $444 a month (utilities included). That's a single room in a rooming or boarding house.
A bachelor apartment is $688 (utilities not included) and a one-bedroom apartment is $780 (utilities not included).
So two minimum-wage earners living together can afford a one-bedroom apartment. But at $900 plus utilities, a two-bedroom may be too expensive for them.
A personal support worker, making $2,377 a month, can afford a one-bedroom apartment, but not a two-bedroom.
With an average house price of more than $272,000, you need an income of almost $80,000 to own a home (based on a monthly payment of $2,121). A couple of minimum wage earners together bring in under $35,000 a year - just over 40% of the income they need to own the average home in Collingwood.
What's really scary is the figures for seniors. With base OAS and a few supplements, a single senior gets $1,173 a month. That allows for shelter costs of $352 a month. That's 20 percent less than the average single room in this town, and barely half of the cost of a bachelor apartment without utilities.
Okay, say you're a senior living in a bachelor apartment. You get roughly $1,200 a month in income. You spend $688 on your rent, plus another $100 or so on water and electricity**. That leaves roughly $535 a month for food, phone, transportation, insurance, pets (if you have one), household items and repairs, entertainment, prescription drugs, glasses, shoes, clothes, laundry (you'll have to go to a laundromat), Christmas gifts, beer or wine, Internet, TV... about $124 a week for every other expense you have.
That's a pretty thin income to survive on. If you have cable TV, you pay about $20 a week for it. A phone adds another $12-15 a week. That leaves about $90 for everything else. Car insurance is around $20-$25 a week (plus there's gas, oil, repairs, maintenance, etc.). Home/life insurance about the same. Not much left for food...
A couple of seniors aren't really any more comfortable. With a base income of $1,901 a month, they can comfortably afford $570 a month for shelter - less than the average bachelor apartment rents for here. In a one-bedroom place, they have $1,121 left over for all the rest of their needs, or less than $260 a week. About $200 a week if they have a phone, cable TV and a car.
Seniors fare marginally better than Ontario Disability Support recipients, who get $1,042 a month. Even with a single child to care for, they receive only $1,794 - which isn't even enough to comfortably support renting a bachelor apartment!
You can read the entire report here. It's a chilling dip into the cold reality of how much it costs to live here in Collingwood. And another reason to push for more affordable housing in this town. Our next council must to fight to keep municipal costs - like taxes and user fees - low!.
~~~~~
* Who can forget Councillor Labelle's infamous remark about low wage earners and hospitality sector workers faced with a four-percent annual rise in water bills approved by council: "We should tip them more."
** Allowing $50 a month, but it will be more if the apartment is heated by electricity.
