Lack of Affordable Housing in Old Ottawa South Social Term Paper (Term Paper Sample)

Lack of Affordable Housing in Old Ottawa South
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Referencing Style: APA 7th / Word Count: 2156
Lack of Affordable Housing in Old Ottawa South
Section One: Describe the Problem
The major problem experienced in my community is a lack of affordable housing. It is important to understand the context of affordable housing before defining the lack of affordable housing in Old South Ottawa as a problem. Affordable housing refers to “housing units that are [expensive] to a section of community whose income is below household income” (Economist, 2020). The threshold for determining if a housing unit is affordable is if the household spends at least 30% of their income on it (Economist, 2020). Thus, the lack of affordable housing means that available housing units are expensive and unaffordable for this residents. Most rental apartments are costly, and as the neighborhood population surges, the supply of affordable housing units continues to decline. The lack of affordable housing has exacerbated homelessness. COVID-19 also aggravated the situation as most residents could not afford housing units at the market prices. 
Old Ottawa South is a neighborhood in Capital Ward in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. According to the Statistics Canada Census 2016 Profile, Old Ottawa South had a population of 6348. The majority of the population is between 15 and 64 years. Although the neighborhood is considered an upper-middle-income class area, housing cost has been a significant setback to its economic development, contributing to massive migration and homelessness (Kneebone & Wilkins, 2016). Most of the community residents are students and people working in educational institutions and other private companies. These middle-income residents create extreme pressures on the available housing units, which exacerbates the lack of affordable housing. The influx of international students in the community has also led to a surge in the prices of housing units, making them unaffordable to middle-income earners in the community. For instance, the average cost of a housing unit in 2010 was $548,822, and in 2018, the price rose to $838,122, representing over 30% growth, which is way above the growth rate in wages (Prism Economics and Analysis, 2019). Thus, affordable housing units in Old Ottawa South is a mirage to many residents.