Now polling sheds light on housing crisis in Perth-Wellington

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As the federal election campaign enters its final days, new polling has emerged that shows just how serious the housing crisis is in Perth-Wellington and two other Ontario ridings. 

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In the OnePoint Association of Realtors-commissioned poll, conducted by Nanos Research just before the writ dropped, 87.5 per cent of respondents said young people are less likely to afford a home today than five years ago. 

The poll surveyed 300 people each in Perth- Wellington, Parry Sound-Muskoka and Simcoe North for a total of 900 hundred respondents. While Perth–Wellington scored high in several areas of this housing poll, including an 8.2 out of 10 as a place to raise a family, an 8.1 out of 10 on safety and a 7.9 out of 10 on quality of life, it only received a five out of 10 as a place where one can afford to buy a home.

“I think the one thing that really popped for me was the housing numbers and people worried about housing affordability in their communities,” said Nik Nanos, the chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research.

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“What this speaks to me is ‘yes, this is a great place to live, great place to raise a family, good quality of life, but we don’t know whether our kids will be able to afford to live in the communities that they grew up in, and they might have to leave.’ And I think that speaks to a sense of urgency for elected officials to focus at least on housing,” Nanos said.

The pollster noted the sample size was “pretty decent” for the three ridings’ population when compared to the provincial and national polls they also do during election time. 

The survey also shows that a majority of respondents said, unprompted, that affordability and a lack of affordable housing were the most pressing issues in their riding when it comes to housing. This includes 70 per cent of respondents in Perth-Wellington and Simcoe North, and 60 per cent in Parry Sound-Muskoka.

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Bonnie Looby, president of OnePoint, which represents 3,000 realtors across the three ridings, said the poll shows that “everyone has finally realized how great this crisis actually is.”

“We, personally as realtors, see the housing affordability crisis every day, and it looks very differently for different people — from young families looking to achieve the Canadian dream to boomers struggling to find a home to downsize into — the lack of affordability and the choice in the market is real. It truly is,” Looby said.

“That is why this research should be such a wakeup call for every level of government. Families across our region, especially young people, are frustrated. They’ve been priced out of the communities that they love and that is why housing affordability has become such a major issue in this federal election.”

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While the “Canadian dream” has always been home ownership, it’s become a dream that many people no longer entertain, Looby said.

“They get in a good rental with a good price, and they just carry on life forever. That’s never been what Canada has been about. That’s never been our dream here, but with the pricing of housing being so unreachable, in comparison to our income level, I do fear that that’s the direction that we’re going,” she said.

Because the survey took place from March 10 and March 19, ending four days before the election was called, the released results did not include answers to a question about who respondents would vote for if the election was held that day. 

However, the poll did show consistent results across party lines, with voters across the political spectrum — Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Green or undecided — rating their riding as:

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• A good place to raise a family from 7.8 to 8.3 out of 10;
• As a safe place to live from 7.4 to 8.2 out of 10;
• The overall quality of life from 7.6 to 8 out of 10;
• As a good place to work from 6.6 to 7 out of 10; and
• As a place where one can afford to buy a home from 4.2 to 4.9 out of 10.

These consistent results on affordability show that “everybody knows that housing is a hot mess,” Nanos said.

“It doesn’t matter where you sit on the political spectrum or what party that you’re supporting. You might disagree on what the solutions are, but you know that there’s a problem,” the pollster said. 

The survey was conducted with both landline and cellphone calls. It had a  margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for each riding was plus or minus 5.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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