After paying their rent and meeting their basic needs, what do tenants have left each month? According to data provided by Centraide, the number of households who find themselves in the red after paying these basic expenses increased between 2022 and 2023 in Montreal.
Posted at 1:13 a.m.
Updated at 8:00 a.m.
“I think the next three years are going to be even more difficult. I’m a little scared,” says without restraint the president and general director of Centraide of Greater Montreal, Claude Pinard.
A household had to earn $31,000 to be able to pay its basic expenses and have money left afterward, according to the 2023 results of the residual balance indicator.
The data compiled by United Way and the firm McKinsey & Company are based on the most recent data from Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Still in 2023, approximately 310,000 households in Greater Montreal did not earn this amount, and therefore had a negative residual balance.
According to the organization’s estimates, 18,000 more households than in 2022 will lack money at the end of the month to pay for their basic needs.
Unless you deprive yourself once the rent is paid.
This is the case of Sophie Laramée, a single mother. “In reality, I live on borrowed money,” she shares. She and her two daughters, aged 16 and 8, have lived in housing in the southwest of Montreal since 2019.
She earns around $2,200 per month, including family allowances. The cost of his six and a half room apartment amounts to $1,850 each month. He therefore has $350 left for other expenses. What does she deprive herself of the most? The food, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I’m going slowly,” she says. I didn’t think I would say that today, at 45 years old. I feel like the first time I went grocery shopping, at 20, and had to calculate. »
Collateral damage
Food, homelessness, mental health, educational success: Centraide, which supports 375 community organizations and projects, has observed a considerable increase in demand in all sectors, explains Claude Pinard.
He points out that requests from food banks no longer occur until the end of the month, but are now an integral part of the daily life of certain families and begin on the seventh or eighth day of the month.
Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), is not surprised by the results of the analysis. “For us, the heart of the issue is affordability, not just the number of homes available,” she says.
“I have to cut back on the children’s extracurricular activities, they feel it,” reveals Mme Laramée, frequently overcome by moments of anguish. “I don’t know where all this is going. »
According to the results of the Centraide analysis, if Mme Laramée earns $26,400 annually; on average, she lacks $460 per month to be able to meet her basic expenses.
“In the end, these are [mes filles] who pay for that,” adds Sophie Laramée.
To relocate ?
If Mme Laramée has about $350 per month to meet her family’s basic needs; once the rent is paid, she could see that amount reduced even further. His landlord recently sent him a notice of an increase… of $100 per month. Which she refused.
While waiting for her hearing at the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), the Montrealer considered finding new accommodation that could accommodate her family. But she soon felt like she had no choice.
“I realize that no matter how hard I look, it’s going to be the same price. Even for a four and a half, it’s the same price,” she confides.
She is afraid of the repercussions of her actions before the TAL on her relationship with her landlord, but also on her finances, since she will have to be absent from work, with no guarantee of the expected result. Her 8-year-old daughter requiring follow-up with various specialists once or twice a week, Mme Laramée cannot work as many hours as before since she has to accompany him.
“I hope I will be heard,” she said. I don’t want to leave. »
According to the most recent data from the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS), the disposable income of a single person working full time at the minimum wage (as of 1er May 2023) is $25,290.
The 2023 results of the residual balance indicator were compiled in collaboration with the firm McKinsey & Company. The measurement of after-tax income, cost of living and housing costs for the Montreal CMA is based on the most recent data from Statistics Canada and CMHC.
