u/Beepbeepboobop1

ETA: thanks everyone who has commented and conversed-I appreciate seeing everyones perspectives. I do agree that Canada is just extremely greedy and trying to squeeze us all. At the same time, anti immigration sentiment is at an all time high so idk how their plan to just replace citizens not giving birth with immigrants for cheap labour will fair. Trudeau was ousted for his lax immigration so it aint gonna be a sustainable move for parties. Curious to see how things play out for Canada and several other countries with housing and birth crisis

Staunchly childfree woman in Canada here (Canada for context).

I’m 27F and live in a shared house (I am the oldest tenant) because one bedroom apartments and moldy, bug infested basements in my city easily go for $1900+ a month. 1 bedrooms really are closer to $2100-2300 a month. On top of that, master bedrooms like mine have now jumped to $1000 in price-so I’m essentially trapped. My place is rent controlled and my landlord despite not being the best has never raised rent on me.

With that out of the way, I have a bit of a conspiracy-yall let me know if I’m crazy. Could it be that governments in developed countries like Canada are purposely making life insanely unaffordable so that more men and women are forced to get into relationships to survive? And thus having kids (either planned or accidental)? Canada, at least in major cities, is no longer viable for single income people. Rents are sky high, groceries have exploded in price, we only have 3 major telecoms companies cause this country loves monopolies. If you want to own your own property solo, you need to be an extremely high earner or have very generous familt who will help with a downpayment (my parents are flat broke-woohoo!).

I remember during covid lockdowns there were a lot of covid babies because yknow-people in relationships or even freshly in them were shacked up indoors for like a year. People get bored, we couldnt go outside for much other than groceries and maybe work. So covid babies. I additionally want to add that domestic violence rates also shot up because people were trapped indoors with their abusers. I myself had to phone in an incident to the police when my ex and I were walking back from getting groceries and we heard an altercation (and children were likely in the home too).

Countries are complaining about falling birthrates. More and more women are choosing to be single. Best way to fix that? Make it so unaffordable you need to find a partner. Before anyone says so yes I understand people move in with friends to save, or strangers, but I think for most folk if something like that is going to be long term/they want to eventually own property, most people do that with a romantic partner. You can do it with friends or fam but I wouldn’t say it’s as common as romantic couples.

I do wonder if the government is going to try force people into a double income situation whether it be to save money or have hopes of owning property. I dont think most people want to rent forever.

For myself I know that I can’t afford a condo or house on my own. I don’t want a McMansion either. I would love a nice (not shoebox) condo where I could live with maybe 1-2 pets. But even with my wage (which isnt even bad btw) I don’t think it’s doable. I will receive no inheritance or downpayment because my parents are poor. So I do wonder what my options are in this country. I continue to save and have an FHSA and TFSA but it’s more wishful thinking atp lol.

My friend recently got married and her and her partner bought a condo in Toronto. She admitted to me that if not for her partner she would likely still be living at home cause there’s no way she could afford. Like me her parents arent wealthy-her husbands family is fairly wealthy, with some fam owning multiple rental properties themselves. She says this to make me feel better but no, it in fact does NOT make me feel better that if my friend were single she could not afford her own space.

Before anyone suggests, no, I have zero plans to live rurally. I am Black and I’m not going to be moved to a small, all white town/farmland where I’m not welcomed. I grew up rurally and it was extremely clear I was never going to fully fit in. Even now when I visit family you can see the shock on some peoples face that a Black person has walked into their establishment. Plus, my line or work will always have me in the city. There are not a lot of high paying jobs rurally.

This went on wayyy too long but please tell me what yall think.