Hovel Hunters International, Ep. 3. About the $1,200.00 Electricity Bill.

J. Thornton.

“With all due respect to the disabled lady working fifteen hours a day and raising four kids.”

This story, “Her Hydro Bill $1200.00” was recently in the Peterborough Examiner.

The cherry-pickers will scream about that $1,200.00 electrical bill, but then there’s an election in 2018 and the Conservatives can almost taste that lovely election win. Yet this woman also has a $900.00 mortgage. We must assume some sort of transportation costs. 

There is home insurance, gas for the heat, money for the phone/cable/internet, water rates, etc. If she only has $56.00 left every two weeks, (with no information on other costs provided, and no information on non-taxable entitlements provided), then taking her figures as Gospel, her monthly income is $2,212.00 after taxes and $26,544.00 per year after taxes.


Question: did you consume $1,200.00 a month in electricity, or did the bill go into arrears? 

HOW did you consume $1,200.00 a month in electricity...??? How in the hell did you do that?


Also, for me to buy a house on disability would appear to be rather optimistic, and I work three jobs just trying to keep my head above water, lining up at food banks as often as I am permitted, etc. I doubt if it would be an easy ride at $26,544.00 per year, and I’m a single male with no dependents. I’m also talking a mortgage of about $50,000.00, which is not a realistic figure in most markets. It is what I thought I might be able to afford—with some squeezing of the lifestyle. So, if we really want to cherry-pick, we could talk about low wages and the lack of union protection here in Ontario, and in Canada as well. We could talk about the high cost of housing, we could talk about the high price of food. Incidentally, when her kids hit 18 years of age, she’ll lose a significant chunk of income when the Child Tax Credit goes away. Let’s hope she sells the house for a lot more than she paid for it, and let’s hope she’s not afraid to buy another one—as I was, a few years ago.


We might also talk about buying a house when you clearly can’t afford one, although it’s certainly possible the house was part of a divorce or separation agreement with a previous spousal person.

If she sells the house and does not immediately buy another, the ODSP will make her live on the proceeds until it’s all gone, in which case she’s free to reapply...

Four kids under eighteen would be 4 x $350.00 per month in Child Tax Credits. Then there’s HST credits, and maybe some other supplements in there. Also, $900.00 month is something on the order of a $200,000.00 mortgage. That payment might include, principal, interest and municipal property taxes.

If you’re on ODSP, even with four kids, HOW did you scrimp and save for any kind of credible down payment?

That ‘Stop the Carbon Tax’ bit on the sign is indicative. The lady states no party preference, yet is clearly politicking.

What still needs to be said from time to time is that a couple of adults working full time but getting minimum/Walmart/Canadian Tire/Wendy’s-type wages really can’t afford a two or three-hundred thousand dollar house. Some folks, selling the family home and coming up with a good down payment, probably upgraded into four and five-hundred thousand dollar homes.

And yet, because of easy credit and the repackaging of junk mortgages, many people were induced to buy, and many of them got in way over their heads.

We, of course, were immune to that sort of thing here in Canada.

As for the image, that’s kind of a nice little house in the Norman St. neighbourhood here in Sarnia. I can’t say what it would go for, nor what the taxes might be. Even if someone gave me that house, free and clear, on my pension it would still be a tough go.

That’s without making any house payment at all.

END

Thank you for reading.