Sudbury residents face high rents, few apartments

For more than six months, Matthew Hanhimaki and his fiancé have been searching for a larger apartment in Sudbury.

They’re expecting a child and need to move sooner rather than later.

“I thought it would have been a little bit easier,” Hanhimaki said.

There are units available in Sudbury, but Hanhimaki said the timing to find one is tricky.

In Ontario, tenants are required to give 60 days notice before moving out, but Hanhimaki said very few ads for apartments have leases that start in two months time.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports the vacancy rate in Greater Sudbury is about 2.6 per cent. Even though a new apartment building is under construction, the vacancy rate is only expected to rise slightly to 2.7 per cent in the coming year.

‘We don’t have enough’

An official with BGL Property Management in Sudbury said the low vacancy rate makes it difficult to place tenants in apartments.

“We could use more vacancies,” Jane Groom said.

“There’s a lot of people coming in from out of town, doing different jobs, partly through the mines and different things where they do come in, they need a place for a year or two and then they’re leaving. I find, sometimes, we can’t fill the need because we don’t have enough in Sudbury.”

But vacancy isn’t the only problem for some renters in Sudbury.

Student Yolanda Adams said her budget doesn’t allow her to look for a place of her own.

“They ask for $700, $800, $900 even for a one bedroom apartment,” she said. “It’s just not feasible for me.”

With her $400 monthly budget, Adams will continue to search for a room or shared accommodations.

The CMHC said the average price of a two bedroom apartment is $925, and is expected to rise slightly to $930 next year.

Provincially, the average price for a two bedroom is slightly more than $1,000.