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Rising rents are driving tenants with low or fixed income into “deep poverty,” says one London housing advocate.

“It’s a really tough rental market in London, particularly that bottom income market who have seen little to no growth in their incomes for many, many years,” Abe Oudshoorn, chair of the London Homeless Coalition, said Wednesday.

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“Rental housing markets are bad for renters and great for landlords. The availability of units is very tight, particularly in the more affordable end of things.”

Two-thirds, or 67 per cent of low-income Londoners spend more than half their income just to keep a roof over their head and the heat and electricity on, according to the Canadian Rental Housing Index, a database that compiles rental housing statistics across Canada.

In Canada, the threshold for what’s considered affordable housing is spending 30 per cent or less of income on housing.

For the hardest-hit demographic, those making an average income of less than $12,000, a studio apartment in London will eat up 53 per cent of their income and a one-bedroom unit would take 62 per cent, according to the latest figures from the rental housing index, which are based on the 2016 census.