Housing

While London has enjoyed a steady trend in housing starts and our real estate market continues to grow, affordable housing remains an issue for many London and area residents. We continue to experience an increase in homelessness, and the use of emergency shelters is on the rise. Although our city has 11 long-term care homes, the average time people wait for a long-term care bed is between 12 and 24 months. The wait times are being addressed with recent approvals for more long-term care facilities.

Provide affordable and adequate housing

Support the homeless

Increase population density to avoid urban sprawl

Key Report Findings (click to expand)

Social Housing
- Social housing is the responsibility of municipalities and is authorized under the legislation known as the Social Housing Reform Act (SHRA), Bill 128, which has been in effect since 2000. The Act is mandated to provide individuals, who face financial difficulty finding adequate housing in the private rental market with alternatives such as rent geared to income housing options. The common marker for the amount of income suitable to pay for shelter costs per month is approximately 30% of the household’s gross (before tax) income. As of January 2007, current statistics report that the City of London had 3,440 households on the rent geared to income waiting list.
- Source: Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association; www.onpha.on.ca
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Homeless Beds

On June 1, 2008 in London, the number of beds in homeless shelters was 517, broken down as 425 emergency beds and 92 transitional beds. The total number of beds was up 6.6% from the June 1, 2007 estimate.
Number of Beds in Homeless Shelters in London, 2008

	Total number	Emergency	Transitional
London	517	425	92

Source: Homeless Individuals and Families Information System. Special Request. Note: The data is current as of June 1, 2008 For further information please visit www.hifis.ca. These data represents year-round shelters and beds. It does not include overflow or seasonal shelters and beds. For this reason, these numbers are an under-representation of the shelter capacity in each of the designated communities. They include Violence Against Women shelters. They are included in both the emergency and transitional shelter statistics, depending on the services and accommodations provided. “Emergency Shelter” is defined as: a facility providing temporary and short-term accommodation for homeless individuals and/or families, and which may include essential services such as food, clothing and counseling. “Transitional Shelter” is defined as: a facility that provides services beyond basic needs and, while not permanent, generally provides a longer length of stay than emergency housing facilities. Transitional shelters include the provision of structure, support, and skill-building to move from homelessness to housing stability. “Emergency and Transitional Shelter” is defined as: a facility that provides accommodations for both emergency and transitional purposes. These types of shelters do not make a distinction between which beds in their facility are for emergency use, and which are for transitional use.

Related Articles:
Table V-4-a: Number of Beds in Homeless Shelters in Vital Signs Communities on June 1st, 2007 and 2008
Table V-4-b: Number of Homeless Shelters in Vital Signs Communities on June 1st, 2007 and 2008
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Rental Vacancy Rates

In London in 2007, the rental vacancy rate of two bedroom apartments was 4.3%, 72.0% higher than the average for all CMAs (2.5%). The rental vacancy rate was up 7.5% from 4.0% in 2006.
Rental Vacancy Rates (%) in London and Selected CMA Communities*, 2005, 2006 and 2007

	1 Bedroom		2 Bedroom		3 Bedroom
	London	Total CMAs	London	Total CMAs	London	Total CMAs
2005	n/a	n/a	5.2	2.6	n/a	n/a
2006	2.8	2.6	4.0	2.5	5.6	2.4
2007	2.6	2.6	4.3	2.5	4.5	2.6

Source: Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, "Housing Market Information: Rental Market Statistics". For details surrounding other Census Metropolitan Communities (CMA’s) please refer to the following links: www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca Note: Based on Vacancy rates (%) in privately initiated rental apartment structures of three units and over.

Related Articles:
Table V-3: Rental Vacancy Rates (%) in Vital Signs Communities, 2005, 2006 and 2007
Appendix Table V-3: Rental Vacancy Rates (%) in Vital Signs CMAs, 1995-2007
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Housing Cost

In 2005 in London, the proportion of households spending 30% or more of their income on gross rent was 44.0%, 9.2% higher than the national average (40.3%). The proportion of households spending more than 30% of income on owner’s major payments on shelter was 16.1%, 9.6% lower than the national average (17.8%).
Percent of Households Spending 30% or More of Income on Gross Rent and Percent of Households where Owner's Major Payments as a Percentage of Household Income Exceeds 30% in London, Ontario and Canada 2000 and 2005

	2000	2005	% change, 2000-2005	2000	2005	% change, 2000-2005
Canada	39.6	40.3	1.8	16.0	17.8	11.3
Ontario	42.2	44.6	5.7	17.3	20.8	20.2
London	44.3	44.0	-0.7	14.9	16.1	8.1

	% of households spending more than 30% of income on rent
	% of households spending more than 30% of income on owner's major payments

Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2001 and 2006, Topic-based tabulations, Housing and Shelter Costs.
Related Articles:
Table V-1: Percent of Households Spending 30% or More of Income on Gross Rent and Percent of Households where Owner's Major Payments as a Percentage of Household Income Exceeds 30% in Vital Signs Communities, 2000 and 2005
Table V-2: Ratio of MLS Average Residential Prices and Median Census Family Pre-tax Income for Vital Signs CMAs, 2000-2006
Table V-5: Average Annual Rent for 2 Bedroom Apartments as a Percent of Median Annual Census Family Income in Vital Signs Communities, 2000-2006
Appendix Table V-2-i: MLS Average Residential Prices ($) in Vital Signs Communities, 1995-2007
Appendix Table V-2-ii: Ratio of MLS Average Residential Prices and Median Economic Family Income for Select Vital Signs CMAs, 1995-2006
Appendix Table V-5-i: Average Monthly Rent for Two Bedroom Apartments in Vital Signs Communites, 1992-2007
Appendix Table V-5-ii: Average Annual Rent for Two Bedroom Apartments as a Proportion of Median Yearly Income in Vital Signs CMAs, Per cent, 1992-2006
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Long-term Care
- In the City of London, there are 11 long-term care homes with a total of 1,938 beds
- In the Municipalities of Middlesex County, there are seven long-term care homes with a total of 681 beds
- The average time people waiting for a long-term care bed spend on the wait list is between 12 and 24 months
- Recently, 3 new long-term care homes were approved for London and are scheduled to be ready for occupancy in 2009/2010
- The most important issue regarding long-term care is our aging population and having enough beds available to those who will need them both now and in the future
- Source: South West Community Care Access Centre.
  For more information about Long-Term Care visit www.ccac-ont.ca
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LOCAL LINKS

City of London: Housing Division
http://www.housing.london.ca

Housing Access Centre (HAC)
http://housing.london.ca/FindingSocialHousing/FSH_Main.htm

London, Ontario Information and Real Estate and Local Services
http://www.charitylinkrealty.ca/cityprofiles/london/index.jsp

London Ontario Student Housing Resources
http://www.londonstudent.ca/housing.php

London Housing Registry
http://www.londonhousingregistry.com/frame.html

Information London: Housing
http://www.info.london.on.ca/cat.asp?cid=53

Information London: Shelters, Drop-ins and Outreach
http://www.info.london.on.ca/cat.asp?cid=63

Information London: Material Aid
http://www.info.london.on.ca/cat.asp?cid=54

London and Middlesex Housing Directory
http://www.housing.london.ca/FindingSocialHousing/HousingDir.htm

If you have relevant data that helps us understand the issues that shape our community, please contact us to have it linked to this page.