EDITORIAL: Increasing cost of living complicates Gen Z’s future

Oct 7, 2022 | Editorial, OP-ED

A question this generation has been often asking itself lately is, will we have to rent our entire lives?

Young adults look forward to owning property one day that they would like to call their own, but increasingly this is becoming nothing but hopeless dreaming.

Although renting is easy and the most realistic for those in their early 20s, rental prices are increasing at a rapid pace.

According to Rentals.ca, the average price of a one-bedroom property in Toronto is $2,329 per month as of August 2022, which is an annual increase of 11.1 per cent.

Toronto was only second on the most expensive list, number one being Vancouver, costing around $2,574 per month for a one-bedroom property.

During the COVID-19 pandemic when the market was at its lowest, the average price monthly for a one-bedroom property was $1,676.

Countless people hope that pandemic pricing is the norm because sadly, it doesn’t look like those prices are coming back anytime soon.

“With further interest rate hikes coming, uncertainty in the ownership market, and the high-demand fall rental season upcoming, expect further outsized rent increases over the next few months,” said Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting, a real estate advisory firm, in a statement accompanying the Rentals.ca report.

Many people move out on their own from a young age and have to provide for themselves, something that before the pandemic was more sustainable. But within the last year, it’s gotten increasingly more difficult. Not only because of the cost of rent but everyday expenses, too.

Getting groceries for one person and planning meals for a full week used to be about $70 to $80, now one can expect to pay at its lowest around $150 for groceries for a week.

From April 2021 to April 2022, the cost of food prices rose by 9.7 per cent.

A survey conducted by Statistics Canada reported that when Canadians were asked which areas they were most affected by rising costs of living, 43 per cent answered food.

It appears the pandemic is easing its way out, and many young Canadians have been looking to travel. For those itching to get away from their home city, another stressful thing they look at are the increasing travel costs.

Flying within Canada has proven to be more expensive, as opposed to flying from a Canadian city to the United States.

Simple Flying reports that in Canada, we use a “user-pay model,” which has a large sum of costs, from security to airport infrastructure, passed down to customers. So essentially, travellers pay higher fees and taxes to support the Canadian airline industry.

Whereas in the United States, airlines and airports are supported by capital contributions and grants.

For example, a flight from Toronto to Vancouver is around $500 with Air Canada. However, a trip from Toronto to Miami using the same airline, is $350.

It’s no wonder so many young people are flying out of the country to vacation rather than explore the provinces and territories. If it’s cheaper to travel abroad, or even to neighboring countries, many would rather do what’s better for their wallets.

Toronto is a great city with a lot to offer, but young adults are going to need more work from the Canadian government to make the cost of living affordable.