Housing services say Sudbury's minimum wage needs to hit $20 an hour
Clement Goh | CBC News | Posted: July 20, 2023 6:22 PM | Last Updated: July 20, 2023
The minimum wage in Ontario is currently $15.50 per hour
Jehnna Morin, the founder of Sudbury's Centre for Transitional Care, said she works two jobs to get by with her three children.
"Even then that's still paycheque to paycheque," she said.
Morin, who helps vulnerable and at-risk people meet their basic needs, added the minimum wage should be $20 an hour to be livable.
"That's for (this) generation. But what about the next one, where there are about three, four or five children per family unit? What are they going to do then? So I have very deep concerns for the next wave," she said.
Calls for a higher minimum wage have been renewed by Sudbury's local outreach groups, who tell CBC News it takes more than the province's current $15.50 per hour rate to escape financial insecurity.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report early Tuesday, suggesting Greater Sudbury's hourly minimum wage needs to be $24.12 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental.
Michael Cullen, the director of community partnerships at Habitat for Humanity Ontario Gateway North, also suggested people in Sudbury could breathe easier with $20 an hour minimum wage.
"The mathematics are very staggering," Cullen said..
"It's not in favour of family affording a home or even an apartment for that context, so there are some discrepancies that have to be sort of really pushed."
According to Cullen, a minimum wage bump has little impact if Sudbury's vacant affordable rental units are marked up.
"There are very few apartments in Sudbury and lots that are in very precarious situations and at-risk situations," he said.
The latest rental market report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says low-income earners in Sudbury "face great difficulty" in finding rental units or moving out of the current situations.
The report added Greater Sudbury's overall vacancy rate stayed at a 10-year low while newcomers struggled to find affordable units to house their families.
Adrian Dingle, a real estate developer and director of housing development at Raising the Roof, said the information they get from the CMHC is often a a year behind, which makes it difficult for them to plan ahead.
Raising the Roof works with developers to build affordable housing.
Since 2020, Sudbury's affordable rental units have had marked-up asking prices, while minimum wage earners are forced to keep up without a pay bump, Dingle said.
"That's something that I'm sure is very difficult for people to adapt to," he added.
Morin, with Sudbury's Centre for Transitional Care, said she's worried any increase to the minimum wage wouldn't keep up with the rising cost of living.
"There's such large gaps from those who are making very less than minimum and for those making way above minimum," she said.
"There's no medium. It's go big or go homeless."