Pick up any local magazine and you can see it in the glossy pages – fine homes, expensive toys, lively restaurants, and active residents enjoying everything Southern Georgian Bay has to offer. We live in a four-season paradise.
But the high cost of living here challenges many of those working in the sectors that make it such a great place to live – recreational activities, dining, shopping, and senior’s healthcare, to name a few.
Nearly a third of Meaford households struggle with housing costs
Meaford Rotary House, home to Meaford Food Bank and Rotary Thrift Shop, helps to ease the struggle
28% of Meaford’s working population is employed in the lower-paying wage sectors of retail, service, healthcare (including PSWs and cleaners), and social assistance.1
In 2020, 385 households in our community were one-parent families. Most of these single parents were women. They have less than half the income of a two-parent family, but face the same cost for housing, with the same number of kids to clothe, care for, and feed.2
In Canada, affordable housing is defined as 30 percent of total income. In Meaford, nearly a third of households are one-person households, with a median income of $36,800. They can afford $920 a month.3
Across Grey County, the average available rent (before utilities), is more than double that: $1850 a month.4
That’s if you can find a place. Today Meaford’s rental vacancy rate is at a historic low.*5
