LEGISLATED Ontario · income · housing
Crisis OW $733 frozen since 2018 Toronto 1-bed $1,985 vs ODSP $1,436 RGI 1-bed wait 15 years CDB $204.20 after “lift out of poverty” Shelter occupancy 98–100% Waterloo legal fees $1.7M to clear tents Crisis OW $733 frozen since 2018 Toronto 1-bed $1,985 vs ODSP $1,436 RGI 1-bed wait 15 years CDB $204.20 after “lift out of poverty” Shelter occupancy 98–100% Waterloo legal fees $1.7M to clear tents

Brief / The keys

Housing First · the cash wall

The door costs two months.
The statute pays one short month.

A Toronto 1-bedroom at $1,985 needs about $3,970 on signing day. A person on ODSP in a shelter is paid $825 because the regulation withholds the shelter line when there is no lease. Ontario Works unsheltered is $343. Housing First says keys first. The cash wall says no. That is how an eight-person dorm stays full while the public pays $6,000 a month for the bunk and $30,000 for the hospital bed that follows.

What it takes to get the keys

$1,985 CMHC-style 1-bed in Toronto is $1,985

Asking rents run higher than these sitting-tenant averages. First-and-last is calculated as two months of the rent you set.

The public is already paying more than a lease

First + last on a Toronto 1-bed

$3,970

Once. Then a tenancy.

Shelter month

$6,000

Boozary / CP24. Recurring.

Hospital month

$30,000+

The overflow of no address.

Supportive housing month

$3,500–$4,000

Keys, then support.

Withholding the shelter line from people in shelters or unsheltered is the mechanism that makes first-and-last impossible. Pay a housing-search amount. Pay last month’s rent as a benefit. Convert the motel invoice into a lease. Housing First is cheaper because it is housing.

See the exit case Demand the housing-search amount