A Toronto teacher leaves friends and work to start a new life in Montreal, unable to find decent housing in the Queen City.
“The only thing I want is to find a decent apartment without cockroaches! But it’s impossible to find it in Toronto today for less than $1,800,” protests 36-year-old Fadia Nacef, who received Le Journal in the modest apartment she’s lived in for six years.
The Toronto School of Management professor and administrator, who earns around $3,000 a month, was just 2 1/2 and lived with roaches and mice as roommates, plus there was mold in her bathroom.
“Now I have trouble breathing because of it, and the owners don’t do anything even if I pay $1,200 for it,” she laments, looking at her window, which she never closes to let the air circulate. constant.
In his building, a few similar apartments are now renting for more than $1,700 a month.
“I think they’re just waiting for me to go and double my rent,” she thinks as she sits in her living room, which doubles as a bedroom and office.
$1800 and nothing
Last summer, she had to live in her car or on her friends’ couch for several days to avoid the roach infestation.
Even looking for an apartment at prices up to $1,800, which is already more than 65% of his salary, it is impossible to find an apartment that suits his needs, neither with a closed bedroom nor close by work in his place of residence.
“You have to live far away to find cheaper accommodation. But if you live far away, you have two choices: drive to work in Toronto every day and get stuck in traffic, or take public transit and drive for hours,” he explains. -She.
Mainly because some transport options aren’t available on weekends, she adds.
“Is it normal to work full-time and not be able to find an apartment because the rent is too high? The governments have to do something!” annoys the woman who left her homeland Algeria 11 years ago.
A decision to be made
Given the situation, Fadia Nacef decided to drop everything and settle in Montreal.
“I have found an apartment where I will have a closed bedroom. “It’s a clean place, free of mold and cockroaches,” she says with relief.
So in a few weeks she’ll be moving her bags to LaSalle in a bigger and better maintained apartment that will cost her the same as the one she’s leaving in Toronto.
“I leave everything here, at least reluctantly, because I love Toronto and my job. But I can’t go on living like this,” she says.
“The problem is that everything is expensive here. The housing, the taxes, the food. We have to cut corners when it comes to eating. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted, but now I have to choose between tomatoes, onions and dairy products,” she laments.