GTA elementary school teacher making $120K a year says that she ‘had better expectations' for her finances. Here's what happened
Christine Miller has been a Grade One teacher with the Peel District School Board for the better part of a decade and while she earns close to $120,000 annually, she says she is living pay cheque to pay cheque.
Miller belongs to a rising number of middle-income households making up to $125,000 a year that are at risk of being squeezed out of the region, according to a report released by Civic Action this week.
Many members of the group, like Miller, have healthy salaries well over the median income for Toronto but are still struggling to stay afloat and have essentially become 'the invisible poor,' Civic Action says.
Miller, 56, lives alone in a one-bedroom 650-square-foot condo in Etobicoke, which she bought for $505,000 in 2019 with some help from her mother for the downpayment. Miller says she bought at a time when borrowing rates were low but the payments on her variable rate mortgage spiked as the Bank of Canada began to hike its key overnight lending rate in response to runaway inflation in 2022.
While she loves her neighbourhood, with its lush gardens and the lake right in view, she says it has become increasingly difficult to pay her mortgage each month, even with a series of recent rate cuts from the central bank.
'I'm up to my eyeballs in the mortgage,' Miller said. 'When the rates went up, I was paying over $3,000 a month.'
Miller says that she was already directing a significant portion of her income to her mortgage but is now spending more than half of everything she earns on her condo after taking a
leave of absence to care for her 94-year-old mother and temporarily replacing her salary with employment insurance benefits.
On top of her living expenses, Miller says her monthly bills also include car insurance, phone and internet, and groceries, for a rough total of $1,500.
'I don't have cable TV, so I watched the Stanley Cup on TikTok. I don't buy clothes, I don't go on trips,' Miller said. 'I have to get my hair cut every six weeks, but I don't go to a gym, I don't do my nails, I don't buy clothes unless I absolutely have to.'
While Toronto's housing market has softened significantly in recent years, a report released by Ratehub.ca in April that you still need an annual household income of more than $217,000 to be able to afford an average-priced home in the city.
Not having the means to be able to spend on anything outside of necessities really, Miller says she feels disappointed with where she's at.
The elementary school teacher compared her life to what it was like for her mom and aunt, as they were also educators. She shared how her parents owned a four-bedroom home on a one-acre lot with a pool in the yard, had a vacation home in Florida and had the ability to help Miller throughout university.
'I had better expectations for where I would be at this point in my life and earning what I earn—because I'm earning close to $120,000 a year—I'm at the top of the pay scale,' Miller says, adding today's economy and her divorce set her back financially.
'I am not going to recover from that hit, like, I won't.'
'Prevention is better than cure'
Miller is just one of many middle-income workers strapped on their monthly bills.
Earlier this week, CTV News Toronto reported on CivicAction's housing crisis report which highlighted the struggles middle-income households in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area face as they don't qualify for traditional housing supports and are often forced to choose between lengthy commutes or out of reach living expenses.
About two dozen readers from households making between $40,000 and $125,000 annually wrote into CTV News Toronto sharing what their day-to-day life is like working in various industries, from healthcare to policing to the skilled trades.
Some wrote in sharing how they frequently commute to Toronto from places like the Niagara Region or Oshawa, incapable of finding work close to home, while some working parents described the challenges they face trying to provide their children with adequate daycare or a stable home.
When asked whether she was surprised to hear the responses, CivicAction CEO Leslie Woo says their stories show what's currently at stake for the region.
'The situation is here and we're already paying a serious price, and every day that goes by that we're unable to sort of drive better collaboration to find solutions we're falling further and further behind,' Woo said.
In CivicAction's report published Tuesday, researchers said that essential workers—those who make the region run, like nurses and teachers, for example—are increasingly being squeezed out of the GTHA because they're reaching their financial breaking point.
The fact that these middle-income workers cannot qualify for housing supports—despite spending between 43 and 65 per cent of their monthly income to cover their mortgage or rent—should, in a way, act as a red flag for policy makers, Woo said.
'Our definitions of what and who qualifies for the kinds of supports are inadequate. It also means that how we're thinking about and the sort of old ways of providing support for those that are in need are also inadequate,' Woo said.
It goes beyond empathy and pity, Woo says, as systemic adjustments need to be made to curb the long-term risks that can hinder the GTHA—from economical to social and even environmental standpoints.
For its part, the city says it is 'aware' of the various pressures Torontonians are facing, from housing affordability to the rising cost of living, adding that it has implemented several policies to assist residents with 'varying income levels to ensure Toronto's long-term vibrancy, livability, and diversity.'
A spokesperson for the city told CTV News that Toronto`s budget for 2025 including money to expand school food programs, freeze TTC fares and waive development charges to accelerate the construction of 6,000 rental units.
The city says it also introduced a new action plan for the local economy to create quality jobs and has a goalpost of delivering 65,000 new rent-controlled homes by 2030, including 41,000 affordable rentals.
Woo hopes policymakers—from all levels of government to employers and non-profits—act swiftly to address the region's housing issues.
'There's an old adage, prevention is better than cure,' Woo said. 'There are a lot of people for whom we could put preventative measures if we act swiftly.'
Miller, however, isn't so sure that relief is on the horizon.
'It's like, you're working just as hard, you followed all the steps, right? You're making the money, and you're making the money, but it's not panning out in your life, in my life,' Miller said.
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