While the economic situation in Ontario may be improving, low and modest income households across the province still struggle to access the most crucial and basic aspect of economic and personal success – a safe and affordable home.

The 2010 edition of Where’s Home? authored by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada Ontario Region (CHF Canada’s Ontario Region), analyzes 22 separate housing markets across Ontario and highlights the urgent need for more affordable rental housing.

Some of the general key findings in this year’s report seem to confirm observations of housing trends in Ontario such as:

• While vacancy rates are stabilizing, after tightening up the last four years, rents are still rising faster than incomes of renter households.
• Average rents increased three times the rate of inflation across the province in 2009.
• Waiting lists for assisted housing are long and they are growing, swelling to about 142,000 households throughout Ontario.
• One-in-five Ontario renter households are still spending more than half their income on housing.
• There is a growing gap in the incomes of tenants and homeowners.
• Demand for affordable units is conservatively estimated at 10,000 homes a year for the next decade.
• Over the last ten years in Ontario, factoring in demolitions and conversions, less than 900 units/year have been added to the stock.
• An astonishing 95% of the housing starts in the last five year period were in the ownership market, with rental accounting for only 5%. Just 15 years ago, rental construction accounted for over a quarter (27%) of the market.

The full Where’s Home? report can found on the web sites of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (Ontario Region) and the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association