'Walls are closing in': Toronto abuse survivor faces new threat from soaring rent
CBC
Just over a year after fleeing a rental she shared with her abusive ex-partner, Elizabeth has launched yet another desperate search for a Toronto apartment.
Elizabeth is a pseudonym; CBC Toronto has agreed not to name her due to safety concerns. The single mom of two has been living in a one-bedroom apartment in the Beach neighbourhood, where her living room doubles as her bedroom to make space for her growing children.
The 39-year-old says she remembers feeling free and hopeful when she found her current apartment, even though at $2,300 per month it was more than she wanted to spend.
Following years of abuse, she kept her search secret from her ex because she worried about how he might react.. Moving into her new, smaller place gave her the space she needed to start over while maintaining some semblance of normalcy for her children. But now her landlord says he's selling the unit and she'll need to go somewhere else once it's sold.
"I feel like the walls are closing in on me. It's taking a toll on my children, I can see it," she told CBC Toronto.
Elizabeth's story isn't uncommon in Toronto, according to organizations that support women fleeing abusive relationships. With rent reaching record highs, the groups worry that more women — and men, to a lesser degree — will stay in violent situations.
Gender-based, intimate partner violence is so bad that the City of Toronto declared it an epidemic earlier this year.
Elizabeth says she's sharing her story because there are others like her who feel trapped not knowing how they'll escape what she describes as a "narrow and unsustainable life." Even though she makes more than the average Canadian and has strong family support, at this point, she says, she's "scraping by."
According to a report released last month by rentals.ca, the average asking rents in Toronto's averaged $2,898 — far more than what she says she can afford.
Deepa Mattoo is executive director at the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic in Toronto, which offers counselling and legal services to survivors of domestic violence.
"The lethality is at its peak because that's when the abuser has lost all control," said Mattoo.
But Mattoo says a shift in the way society views housing specifically for survivors of domestic abuse is paramount. She says the current approach to housing simply doesn't meet their long-term needs.
"I think definitely there needs to be more housing — there needs to be more resources given to the emergency housing, there needs to be more resources given to transition housing," she said.
Michelle Choe, a lawyer working with Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario is leading research on how to close the accessibility gap for victims of gender-based violence who need immediate housing.
