Imagine you make minimum wage (it isn’t hard if you try).
In Saskatchewan minimum wage is $9.50/hour. For an 8 hour work day, a worker will gross $76. For a tax rate of about 26%, this leaves $56.24 before other deductions like CPP and EI.
Multiply by 5 workdays in the week. $281 per week.
Multiply that by four weeks in a month. $1125 per month.
Multiply the $281 by 52 work weeks to get a rough estimation of minimum wage income for the year that someone could have in their bank account. $14622 per year.
It’s the opinion of Regina City Council that “affordable housing” is defined by rental units “at or below market” rates. It’s quite common to now to see people paying $850/mon for a 1 bedroom apartment, or $1000/mon for a 2 bedroom apartment.
The 1 bedroom, at $850, costs 850/1125 = 76% of monthly income for housing.
The 2 bedroom at $1000, costs 1000/1125 = 89% of monthly income for housing.
CMHC says:
“The first rule is that your monthly housing costs shouldn’t be more than 32% of your gross monthly income.”
$76 * 5 * 52 = $19760. If you chop that into months / 12 = $1647
$850 / $1647 = 52% of gross monthly income.
“The second rule is that your entire monthly debt load should not be more than 40% of your gross monthly income.”
What does 32% of 1647/month look like for rent or mortgage payments for people with $0 in debt?
$527
UPDATE: Jessica writes:
“Just so you know minimum wage is $10.00/hr in Saskatchewan. As of Dec 2012.”
I was working from an old Google result it seems.
BONUS Update:
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