ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Ontario Minister Sylvia Jones is one of two MPPs who voted to increase law-makers' Toronto housing allowance by 20 per cent.

TORONTO — Ontario legislators have quietly increased their rental housing allowances by around 20 per cent arguing that they've been paying out of their own pockets to subsidize housing in Toronto's hot real estate market.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the Board of Internal Economy — a little-known body that operates the legislature building and sets politicians' living expense budgets — decided to hike the housing accommodation ceiling in October retroactive to July 1, 2018.

The monthly rental allowance, which applies to all legislators who live at least 50 kilometres from the seat of government in Toronto, went from $1,910 to $2,300 — a jump of just over 20 per cent. Cabinet ministers and opposition leaders also received a similar increase of nearly 20 per cent, hiking their monthly accommodation budgets from $1,993 to $2,383.

Speaker Ted Arnott informed legislators of the change on October 16 but a report that reflects the increase won't be made public until sometime this summer.

The increase comes on top of already approved annual hikes tied to the province's rent control rate — 1.8 per cent in 2018 and 1.5 per cent in 2017 — put in place by the board under the previous Liberal government.

Sylvia Jones defends the increase

Tory legislator Sylvia Jones, one of two voting members of the board, defended the board's decision, saying it was necessary.

"After receiving a report showing how many members subsidized their Toronto accommodation, the Board of Internal Economy agreed that the housing allowance would be increased to deal with an increase in housing costs," she said.

The other voting member of the board, which meets behind closed doors but files its meeting minutes with the province's legislative library, is NDP legislator John Vanthof. The New Democrats, who are the official Opposition, also said the 20-per-cent increase was necessary due to the higher rental prices in the GTA.

The average one-bedroom condo apartment rental in Toronto is $2,055 a month, and a two-bedroom condo apartment rents for $2,755, according to a Toronto Real Estate Board report released in October. It also said strong competition between renters continued to sustain double-digit or near double-digit annual average rent increases on a year-over-year basis.