More renters in Peterborough now spend greater than 30 per cent of their income on rent than in any other city in Canada, states a new report.

This finding was part of a new report on housing released on Wednesday by the United Way Peterborough and District.

The Housing Is Fundamental report is written annually by housing advocate Paul Armstrong.

It's a roundup of the latest statistics on rental affordability and homelessness in Peterborough city and county.

The report was released Wednesday at a gathering of about a dozen people at Emmanuel United Church.

Rents are unaffordable for many tenants in cities across Canada, Armstrong said.

"But nowhere in Canada is the concentration of this epidemic greater than it is in Peterborough," he said.

The report states that in 2018, roughly 52 per cent of people living in rental housing in Peterborough were paying "unaffordable" rents (meaning the tenants were spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent).

That figure is higher in Peterborough than in any other census metropolitan area in Canada, states the report (which draws this data from the 2018 Canadian Rental Housing Index).

Barrie was next in line, followed by Oshawa, St. Catharines, Kingston, Toronto and Kelowna.

United Way CEO Jim Russell was at the gathering and called it a "myth" that Peterborough has cheap housing costs.

It's perhaps "cheap" for someone selling a house in Toronto and coming to live here, he said, but many renters are a paycheque away from potential eviction.

Armstrong agreed, saying there's been an "alarming increase in rents" in Peterborough between 2017 and 2018.

The average market rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Peterborough in October 2017 was $988 - but a year later, the rent for that same apartment was $1,077 (an increase of nine per cent), the report states.

For a three-bedroom apartment, the average rent increased from $1,190 in 2017 to $1,322 in 2018 - a hike of 11.1 per cent, the report states.

"It's significant because incomes have not kept pace," Armstrong said, adding that pay is "degrading" for many renters at the same time as the cost of rent is increasing.

The report also states that an average of 103 people were housed in emergency shelters in Peterborough every night in 2018.

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One of those shelters, the Warming Room, closed July 1 for repairs. Following that closure, about 40 tents were set up at county-owned Victoria Park.

When people were evicted from Victoria Park on Aug. 27, many moved their tents - with clergy permission - to the property at Emmanuel United Church.

One of those campers, Dan Hennessey, came inside for the release of the report. He said he's one of about 30 people currently living in a tent on church property.

Hennessey urged people at the release of the report to go outside and talk to people in tents: ask them what they need, and how they ended up homeless.

"These reports are great - but let's go meet the people."

joelle.kovach

@peterboroughdaily.com