Windsor-Essex ranks fifth for income inequality among major Canadian metro regions: report

For sale signs in Amherstburg, Ont. on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. (Ricardo Veneza / CTV Windsor)

Windsor-Essex is becoming a region of haves and have-nots, as rising housing costs outpace wages, making homeownership and even rental housing increasingly unattainable for many residents, according to a new report.

The report by Community Policy Solutions, titled Income Inequality and the Housing Crisis in Windsor-Essex County, is a collaboration between Assisted Living Southwestern Ontario, Family Services Windsor-Essex, South Essex Community Council, Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, and the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families.

It finds that Windsor-Essex now has the fifth highest income inequality in Canada, behind only Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Hamilton.

“They’re all major metro areas, provincial capitals or large urban centers. But then you have Windsor-Essex which is a much smaller region,” said report author Frazier Fathers.

“Windsor’s competitive advantage has always been low housing costs. But that’s going away quickly.”

Between 2006 and 2022, home prices in the region surged by 150 per cent, while median household incomes fell by 10 per cent when adjusted for inflation.

That shift has forced many residents out of homeownership and into a rental market where prices are also climbing.

According to the report, 149 neighbourhoods (or census dissemination areas) in Windsor-Essex that were once considered affordable are no longer within reach for the average resident.

Role of investors

At the same time, investors are playing a bigger role in the housing market.

Sixty-four per cent of condos and 12 per cent of single-family homes in Windsor-Essex are now owned as investment properties, the report finds.

Fathers said that dynamic is reshaping the local market, making it harder for working residents to compete.

“We’ve had out-of-town residents, people moving to the region, which isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “But they’re able to outbid locals, and that’s driving up our housing prices.”

Affordability crisis

The affordability crisis is pushing more people into emergency shelters, according to the executive director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families.

“When we talk about the housing crisis, I want to be really clear — it’s not actually a crisis. It’s a persistent state of systemic inequality, and that’s the gap a lot of our clients fall into,” said Lady Laforet.

Data between 2023 and 2024 shows more people are coming into the Welcome Centre and fewer people are able to move out.

According to Laforet, longer shelter stays and fewer successful exits from homelessness are direct consequences of rising housing costs.

“It used to be, let’s say, 30 days, that we would be able to get a family out. At this point, it wouldn’t be uncommon to have a family here for 60, 90 or even 120 days, depending on the situation,” said Laforet.

“So as a system, we’re really focused on the emergency response of shelters, when we should be shifting to prevention, to affordable housing, to reducing our over-reliance on crisis response.”

She added that people often assume homelessness is tied solely to personal crises, like escaping domestic violence. But economic factors — including stagnant wages, rising rents, and a lack of affordable options — are now primary drivers.

“We have students whose ODSP hasn’t come in one time. We’re talking about single moms that can’t afford rent. We’re talking about families that fall behind on a few cheques, end up couch-surfing for a year, and then enter the shelter system,” she said.

Limited public transit

Fathers also pointed to limited public transit as another affordability barrier.

“If you can’t get to work or school because there is no transit system, then that house that could be available to rent or buy is actually not affordable because you have to stack a car and insurance on top of it,” he said.

The report suggests several potential solutions, including simplifying zoning laws, increasing non-profit housing development, and expanding community land trusts to ensure permanent affordability.

Reducing inequality

For Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, creating pathways to homeownership is key to reducing inequality.

Fiona Coughlin, the organization’s executive director, said homeownership is a “democratizing force” in the housing market, helping families build stability and generational wealth.

“There are groups in our society that have been systemically barred from ownership in the past, and what that’s done is impacted generational wealth,” said Coughlin.

“We believe ownership democratizes rent control. If we can create pathways to homeownership for everyone in our community, then we’re going to have a better society.”

Habitat for Humanity operates on a geared-to-income mortgage model, allowing families who are in core housing need to apply for a home without needing a down payment.

But Coughlin said non-profits like hers rely on municipal support to keep building affordable housing.

“It requires partnership with municipalities and developers who are willing to work with us to create the ability for us to build affordably,” she said.

She added that Windsor needs to rethink its approach to land use. Rather than treating it as a revenue source, cities should be looking at ways to reduce costs for affordable housing projects.

“In order for this to work, everybody at the table is going to have to bleed a little bit,” she said.

“Municipalities have to be willing to cut their various ways of profit-seeking on land and development fees. Developers have to be willing to build with a lower profit margin. Everybody has to come to the table and figure it out.”

Call for action

The report warns that, without action, the housing gap in Windsor-Essex will continue to widen, leaving more residents struggling to find a place to live.

Fathers said the speed of these changes is particularly alarming, and the next census may show an even sharper decline in affordability.

“The problem is, once something becomes unaffordable, it’s very hard to make it affordable again,” he said.

The full report is available at this link.