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How the singles ‘tax’ makes people who live alone feel the pinch

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Cost of life8:36The high price of living alone

Jenn Dumaran feels a bit stuck.

The 41-year-old marketing professional loves her pretty, bright apartment in Toronto’s Greek Quarter where she lives alone, but at 595 square feet, there’s really no room for her to add a dog to the mix.

Since his last apartment search in 2019, snagging this spot for around $2,000 a month, rents have skyrocketed. The average one-bedroom is now $2,458, according to a national report from rentals.ca in February. An apartment with a bit more floor space and some backyard space for the adopted rescue dog she dreams of would bring her closer to $3,000 — and that’s a hefty price tag for just one person.

“I really feel like I have to stay here because you can’t find anything even in this price range for a room,” Dumaran said. Cost of life.

People who live alone have always had to bear significant costs themselves. But the inflation that Canadians have faced over the past year means that almost everything, from groceries to gas to rent, or the interest rate you pay on your mortgage and the like debts, increased – and financial security decreased.

Even people like Dumaran – who consider themselves lucky to have decent jobs – are feeling the pinch, largely due to what some call “singles tax”.

It is the difference between what a single person pays for an apartment during the year compared to what the same apartment would cost, per person, if it were shared by a couple.

According to that same rental report, the average one-bedroom apartment in Toronto was $2,458 in February. At this rate, over the course of the year, a single person will pay almost $30,000 to live there, instead of around $15,000 if they shared this space with a partner. Therefore, the “singles tax” is almost $15,000.

The downtown Vancouver skyline is seen on December 21, 2022. In Vancouver, the average one-bedroom apartment costs $2,730 per month, so the extra cost of someone living alone during one year is $16,380. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

In Vancouver, the average price for a bedroom is $2,730, so the extra cost for a single person is $16,380. In Halifax, rents are a bit more reasonable, but the singles tax is still around $10,300.

And more people than ever are paying those high housing bills on their own. When the last census was taken in 2021, 4.4 million Canadian adults lived alone, or about 15%, up from 1.7 million, or 7.1%, in 1981.

And that figure doesn’t take into account all the people who are the sole breadwinners, but who live with children or other dependents.

A woman with long dark hair smiles for a portrait while wearing a black blazer.
Iglika Ivanova, senior economist at the Vancouver-based Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, said there was not enough in Tuesday’s federal budget to make a substantial difference to the precarious situation faced by people who live alone. or who are the sole breadwinners. (Submitted by Iglika Ivanova)

Budget shortfalls

Iglika Ivanova, senior economist at the Vancouver-based Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, said there was not enough in Tuesday’s federal budget to make a substantial difference to the precarious situation faced by people who live alone. or who are the sole breadwinners.

While the budget included a rebranded version of the doubled GST credit seen last year, now called the grocery rebate, Ivanova said to really move the needle, the government should have made significant new investments in the affordable housing.

“I think there’s a missed opportunity to really help, because the grocery reimbursement is nice but really, if we don’t control what’s happening in the housing market, then we can’t control these exorbitant rent increases in new units, and people aren’t doing well at all. We’re going to be in serious trouble.”

Although housing is the largest expense, it’s not the only expense to skyrocket in recent months.

Two women with shopping carts walk down the aisle of a grocery store.
Food inflation rates continue to hover around 10%. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

“I was never a very concerned person about where I shopped. I didn’t check prices,” Dumaran said. “I really enjoyed shopping and going to different grocery stores and, you know, trying new things. Now I’ve really limited myself to a No Frills type of store.”

Before, she was mainly a public transport or bicycle commuter, and now she uses her car even less. And on office days, she’s even stricter about bringing food from home to avoid the high costs of buying lunch at food courts in Toronto’s Financial District, she says.

A woman in a blue shirt and white jeans sits on a gray sofa in her living room, which is decorated with black and white patterned cushions.
Jenn Dumaran, who rents her own apartment in Toronto, is quick to point out that she is so much better off than many others. Yet she fears that for her and others her age, typical milestones like home ownership are out of reach. (Submitted by Jenn Dumaran)

Dumaran is quick to point out that she is so much better off than many others. She is progressing in her career in marketing and event planning. Her landlords didn’t raise the rent during the toughest two years of the pandemic, and she’s not struggling to feed a few kids. Yet she fears that for her and others her age, typical milestones like home ownership are out of reach.

“The Most Overlooked Group”

Yet there hasn’t been a ton of ink on what it’s like to deal with people living alone in times of high inflation, especially in places where housing costs have also skyrocketed.

A woman with short hair and glasses smiles for a selfie in a room with aqua blue walls.
Elaine Power, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University who researches food security and advocates universal basic income, says “single adults may be the most neglected group in the country in terms of thinking about strategies to reduce poverty and food insecurity.’ (Submitted by Elaine Power)

“Single adults are perhaps the most overlooked group in the country when it comes to thinking about strategies to reduce poverty and food insecurity,” says Elaine Power, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and on Health from Queen’s University, which studies food security and advocates for universal basic income.

She said poverty rates for people living alone are “significantly higher” than the general population.

Inflation only made the situation worse, Power said.

Toronto personal finance journalist Renee Sylvestre-Williams said people who live alone need to get creative if they want to save money on food and other essentials.

A woman with curly dark hair wearing a burgundy shirt smiles for a portrait.
Toronto personal finance journalist Renee Sylvestre-Williams said people who live alone need to get creative if they want to save money on food and other essentials. (Bernie Uhlich)

Many grocery store promotions mean you have to buy two or more to get the lowest price – and that doesn’t make sense when there’s only one mouth to feed.

“You might not want to eat so much yogurt in the short time you have before it spoils,” said Sylvestre-Williams, who writes a newsletter called The Budgette and who also happens to be single.

She said a good strategy is to coordinate with family or friends for a Costco run and then split things up. Or to be strategic by buying non-perishable foods when there is a bargain. Essentials like shampoo and toothpaste are also on sale, and having a few extras isn’t going to eat up all your closet space, she said.

Reduce

Sara Hodge, a freelance marketing executive and single mother of two, pays $2,800 a month to rent the three-bedroom townhouse she lives in with her teenage sons. She says there is a feeling of vulnerability given the hot rental market; if she had to find a new place at current prices, it would probably cost her around $3,300 a month.

When inflation started to climb last year, she began employing strategies she had never thought of before. “I’ve reduced my electricity and gas usage,” Hodge said. She used to keep her heat at 22C while working from home during the day. Now she says she’s putting it down until the kids get home from school. “I just keep a blanket over my lap.”

We should have an economy where work pays enough for you to support yourself.​​​​​​– Iglika Ivanova, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives

And she’s strict about using electricity during off-peak hours. “I cook all my food for the day at 7am. I get up earlier so I can shower and use my hair straightener. I only do laundry and run the dishwasher at night. “

Ivanova said measures such as the grocery discount and other tax credits weren’t enough to support households without policies that promote wage growth, which haven’t kept pace with the economy. inflation. “We should have an economy where hard work pays enough for you to support yourself.”

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