Why it costs more for a single person to live in Mississauga than Toronto

You may have heard of the idea of the single tax. It's the concepts that people who are single are forced to pay a lot more for their living expenses. What might surprise you is one recent study shows that cost is actually higher here in Mississauga than it is in Toronto. The study that I did is called Thriving This City and I looked at single working aged adults between the ages of 25 and 40 in Mississauga. We found that it's much more expensive to live in Mississauga. It's actually $22,000 more to live in Mississauga, the city of Toronto, it costs about $62,000, whereas in Mississauga it costs $84,000, according to the study. That is far above the earnings of a minimum wage full time worker, which is close to $26,000 after taxes. The highest costs are associated with fundamental aspects of life such as shelter, transportation and savings. When we're looking at just generational growth building, just building a society in general, single working adults are an important part of our population. For some looking to the future, living a comfortable life one day feels out of reach. I've heard that a lot of people have just given up on on on owning a home. I'm still in grade 12. We don't talk about that often, but like, I get the feeling a lot of people just have a sense of like, it's not going to be good. This is the full income earner. I I do notice the difference when I buy grocery for example, or try to eat out. It all adds up. To tackle this issue, I even had to rent out my basement. Fahim Abrar just became a Canadian citizen, so this is the first election he's able to vote in. Despite having stable work, affordability remains top of mind. I would say I'm well off as a software engineer, but even I'm feeling the pinch. I just think of all the people who are unable to afford and it just breaks my heart. It is I, I, I can see very clearly how unaffordable it has become in this city. I see a distinct difference between how the prices were before COVID and after COVID. The Mississauga Food Bank has noticed that too. Visits to the food bank have gone up 300% since the pandemic. I think that's why people are coming to food banks who've never needed it before because the amount that used to enable you to live a comfortable life just doesn't cut it anymore. Sometimes folks saying, you know, I live on my own one salary and all the expenses for that is, you know, it's too much. Or they say, you know, we often hear people kind of saying, I used to give to food drives. I used to send food with my kids to school. And I can't believe I'm here having to ask for support. The hope is that with this election, change is on the horizon. I see a huge potential for the city in the next 50 years. We have to make sure that the mayor represents our voice to the upper levels of governments and that we get a fair deal to improve the affordability. The Mississauga Food Bank is hosting a debate on Thursday and affordability is expected to be a big part of the conversation. Voters head to the polls on June 10th. Talia Ricci, CBC News, Mississauga.