In May 2024, I attended a housing conference where I spoke about low income people and the housing that they are able to secure. I had been thinking a lot about how welfare programs incentivize people to remain single even though they have met another person and wished to live together – but could not afford to.
One of the display items featured at the conference was a real fully equipped but very small Tiny Home[1]. I was eager to have a tour of this innovation in affordable city living.
The absolute first thing that I realized as I walked through the structure was that it seems to have been built for one person to occupy. Although the Ontario publication referenced here describes building specifications and zoning in great detail, there is only one passing reference to ‘bunk beds’ where it may be inferred that more than one person would occupy it.
I found this to be strange especially since just over half Canadian adults live as couples with and without children (50.9%) and only 29.3% live as single people. Another 16% live as single parents.
But if the predominant living arrangement in Canada is at least two persons, there must be a reason why very small Tiny Homes seemed to be aimed at single people even if this thinking is left unsaid in the Ontario literature on building Tiny Homes.
Tiny Homes are not aimed at middle or higher income people and even though there are Tiny Homes that can accommodate a family of five[2], the smallest among them appear to be most suitable for people living on their own. They are often seen as a solution to homelessness[3]. And homeless people are usually single and predominantly single men[4], aren’t they?
This leads us to a question:
Do lower income people tend to live as single people and if they do, why do they live on their own? Are there incentives to do so?
After all, low income Canadians likely meet and fall in love and wish to live together just like everyone else. Economies of scale dictate that two can live more cheaply than one especially with shelter costing so much these days.
But the reality among the very lowest income people in Ontario is that two can’t live more cheaply than one.
Most of the debate about Canada’s housing crisis revolves around housing supply. Governments are jumping over each other to implement policies that will increase supply.
All good. But demand is also important and many are talking about existing housing and what can be done to make better use of existing supply.
It’s just that the one thing that you almost never hear about is how welfare rules result in the over-housing of recipients.
[1] https://files.ontario.ca/pdf1/mmah-build-or-buy-a-tiny-home-en-2022-05-12.pdf
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKCsUfU6VTo
[3] https://invisiblepeople.tv/are-tiny-homes-a-solution-for-homeless-people/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwtNi0BhA1EiwAWZaANBf3Vk3pAaHkwFnmxUyfXeMzepo4-rrYq-FWv52eEn6D1bcEkklF0xoCOPIQAvD_BwE
[4] https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/population-specific/single-men
https://openpolicyontario.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/12/DECOUPLED-Dec11-v3-2.pdf