A new poll from Forum Research shows a vast majority of Toronto residents consider the city to be unaffordable — and they report spending the highest proportion of their income on rent out of Canada’s major cities.

“This is going to drive the affordability issue,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research. “If you look across the country, it’s even higher than in Vancouver ... That’s a lot of disposable income and that’s now tied to people’s rent.”

Across the country, Torontonians say they spend the highest proportion of their monthly income on rent — 36 per cent — slightly ahead of residents in Vancouver and Mississauga, who both report spending one percentage point less.

“It’s going to result in a lot of people saying that they would consider leaving Toronto,” Bozinoff added.

The residents most likely to be spending the most on rent include people between 35 and 54 years old, women, those earning between $60,000 and $80,000 per year, and those with some form of post-secondary education.

Have Your Say!

The poll also found 82 per cent of Torontonians say the city is unaffordable, in stark contrast to only 18 per cent who say the opposite.

Diana Petramala, senior researcher at Ryerson University’s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development, attributes the rise in housing costs to the growth in population.

“Toronto has pretty much surpassed Vancouver,” she said in terms of rent. “It’s not surprising that people are feeling like they’re spending a lot more of their money on housing costs.”

Petramala added, “We just don’t have enough housing here and people who are making higher incomes who would otherwise be owning are holding up some of that supply that would traditionally be available to people making less than the median income.”

The poll was conducted by Forum Research by an interactive voice response telephone survey of 3,572 randomly selected Canadians between Aug. 22 and 25. The results are considered accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas