A Different Kind of Wealth

Photography by Nicole Osborne

By Luis Patricio, Co-Lead, SDG Cities, Pillar Nonprofit Network

I consider myself a wealthy person but not in the way we tend to think about wealth. As an immigrant without a credit history or a permanent stable job, I would never get approved as a renter. And I tried a few times. Fortunately, I could rent apartments from friends without having to fill out a form. A couple of times, friends even took me in their home while I was trying to find a place to stay.

My wealth is expressed in human capital. Georgina Chuatico and Michael Haan explain that “newcomers with lower levels of human capital will be more likely to bond, whereas higher human capital newcomers will often bridge.” That means that newcomers with low human capital tend to form social ties in their own ethnic communities. While that provides a much-needed social connection, it could become a barrier to integrate into Canadian society and to find housing too.

A stable home is not easy to get. Since I moved to Canada four years ago, I have lived in more places than my 40 years living in Brazil. Currently I spend 32% of my income on rent and utilities because I have someone to share my expenses with. If I was the only adult, housing would cost 64% of my total income.

I should call myself lucky, a report from the City of London shows that 14% of Londoners are in core housing need and 16% of people renting in arrears in 2020. Not surprising with the ODSP shelter allowance at $497, Ontario Works at $390 and many others working full time making less than $2,000. Now consider the average 2020 rent in London was $1,119 up by 7.0% from 2019 (CMHC). The rental market vacancy rate in 2019 was 2.1%. The lowest level in 20 years.

Yet, the gap between income and living costs (financial capital) is only one side of the story that pushes people into homelessness. The other side is not having enough human capital: being a single parent, living alone, and not having strong social networks.

Last year, we researched experiences of people struggling to find housing. We visited affordable and social housing buildings, talked to people facing homelessness and the homeless prevention team. We presented a summary at the 2020 Place Matters Conference, one of our main takeaways was: “Place only matters if you have a place”. This is bad news for a city invested in increasing citizen engagement. What kind of city are we building with a growing number of absent landlords and disconnected renters?

Jennifer Keesmat, the guest speaker in the last Downtown BIA AGM, recommended significantly increasing affordable housing units in the core to revitalize business and public life. By doing that, organizations like Indwell address both needs by building affordable housing paired with local businesses that can help build community. Another great example is the Union Coop in Waterloo where local members acquire residential buildings keeping them accessible and affordable.

We need to scale up initiatives like those that are concerned with financial and human capital to deliver solutions with long-lasting impacts.