Spotlighting Toronto’s Housing Crisis By Turning A Parking Space Into A One-bedroom Apartment

United Way Greater Toronto created an apartment from the small space to show how rising rents leave many feeling they can only afford a home ‘no larger than a parking spot.’

The “OpenHouse” exhibit highlights what Toronto tenants making minimum wage can actually afford: a 150-square-foot parking space for just $250 a month.

That was the question posed by the United Way Greater Toronto, which transformed a 150-square-foot parking spot into a one-bedroom apartment to highlight the city’s housing crisis.

The “OpenHouse” pop-up exhibit in Liberty Village, opened to the public on Saturday evening, is meant to illustrate “how the combination of rising rent and stagnant wages have left many feeling that the only space they can afford to live in is no larger than a parking spot,” said a release from The United Way Greater Toronto, which created the exhibit with creative agency Sid Lee.

The average one-bedroom condo apartment rent in the city is $2,532, according to the latest rental report from the Toronto Region Real Estate Board — a rise of 11.6 per cent compared to last year. A spokesperson for the United Way said the average monthly rent for a parking space in Toronto is about $250. But if the same footprint was a residential space, that 150 square feet of pavement would easily go for two to three times as much.

The United Way is hoping the exhibit will start a conversation about making homes more affordable for lower and mid-income earners, and to offer the public a chance to “learn more about critical policy changes including rent control, inclusionary zoning and rental unit replacement,” the release said.

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