Writers vs The Big City

GUESS WHO'S LOSING

The average cost of a home in Toronto, the city I’ve called home since I was six, is over $1.13 million.

If you want a detached home, that number increases to $1.4 million.

To purchase a home in our city, you need to put 20% down. That means you’ll need to save $226,000 to purchase a home in Toronto. First time homeowners can get away with 10%; that’s $113,000.

According to a recent study, Toronto is now the sixth least affordable city in all of North America, and yes, less affordable than New York. I mention New York because the two cities have a lot in common. The weather is practically the same, they’re both major east coast cities with several sports teams, and they both brag about their arts scenes. The last point is why we’re all here today.

Writers and artists living in big cities

Not a day goes by in Toronto where there isn’t some kind of play or exhibition or author reading or a performance of some kind. I’ve sat on the grass of Trinity Bellwood's Park next to Margaret Atwood as we watched and listened to George Elliot Clarke perform one of his award winning poems. I’ve purchased pieces from local artists hosting exhibitions at galleries where I’m cool with the owners. I’ve gone to countless readings and immersed myself into the writing and arts community and have enjoyed nearly every moment of it.

But I’m fortunate. I earn enough money to have paid rent in a west-end neighbourhood near the core of the city before moving farther south to a three-bedroom condo by the lake. At my west-end apartment, I could’ve taken a streetcar or subway to frequent any of the events I mentioned within twenty minutes. My circumstance is not normal.

The average content writer in Toronto earns just over $50,000/year. Editors in Toronto make about $57,000/year with Senior Editors making close to $70,000/year.

Since purchasing a home is not even in the discussion for artists, let’s talk about rent. As per March of 2024, the average rent in Toronto is about $2,600/month. If you’re looking for a two bedroom, you’ll need to fork up about $3,400. On a $50,000 yearly income, many writers, artists and creative people I know are rooming up, regardless of their age. It’s become a basic sacrifice if you want to live in the city.

The contradiction

Toronto really is a beautiful city, and I’m using Toronto as a microcosm for other big cities who brag about their arts scenes. The reality is that purchasing a home for writers is pretty much impossible. Fine. Maybe homeownership is not a thing for my generation. But since renting is our only option, it’s still difficult to survive in the city on a $50k income; nearly impossible without some serious sacrificing.

And what if you want to commute all of the book readings, art galleries, plays, dances, and other creative performances the city has to offer? It seems contradicting that a city filled with so much artistic expression makes it impossible for its artists to live within its borders.

And the issue is layered. We can’t speak of affordability without mentioning compensation. But if you live in Toronto, you know that many of our presses are indie. And those indie presses rely on grants to sustain (more on that later). The most lucrative approach for writers is actually to freelance. More specifically, copywriting is the path to making the most money. But with copywriting, you produce a lot of content that you may not necessarily be passionate about, so there’s a bit of give and take. A lot, actually.

For editors, taking side jobs is what’s necessary to supplement their income. They still get to help writers and do what they love, but it also means working many more hours on top of their full-time job. Again, it’s a give and take, but a necessary one if you want to live in the city.

So what can be done?

I do want to give Toronto (and Canada) credit. We have fairly robust grant programs. TAC, OAC and CAC are city, provincial and national grants that many writers and artists have taken advantage of. You can receive six figure grants to produce a screenplay or five figure grants to produce a book. They offer marketing grants, grants for digital creations, plus many more opportunities to fund your creative ideas. Grants are essentially lottery systems so this doesn’t get to the core of collective compensation, but it helps.

Affordable housing is a more direct solution that speaks to the core of the problem. According to the city of Toronto, as of July of 2021, “There are 105 active affordable rental and supportive housing project in the development pipeline representing approximately 10, 400 homes.”

We need more of this, and not just for the writers and artists. It does the city no good to price out the creators who make the city alluring in the first place. Writers and artists shouldn’t be fighting against their cities, we should be embraced. And no I’m not talking about handouts, I’m simply speaking about affordability.