the conversation 20 | What you loved and loathed last month

Readers were divided in their response to “The Urban Expats,” our story about young professionals leaving Toronto because of the high cost of real estate. Many felt that ink was wasted on middleincome earners and that we should have focused instead on how the housing crisis is affecting the lowest-income earners.

“There is nothing to mourn when young families with good jobs trade urban convenience for larger backyards or an extra bedroom. The tragedy of Toronto’s housing prices is the families on low incomes driven into substandard housing or impermanent arrangements that put them at the mercy of landlords.

“It’s the service-sector workers who can’t opt out of long and expensive commutes to jobs of low or middling means, with no hope of buying a house at any time, anywhere. And it’s the locals displaced by well-heeled Toronto expats who make communities unaffordable to the people who always lived there.

“Any of these topics would make for a more meaningful, albeit uncomfortable, analysis of housing prices for Toronto Life readers.”

—Marc Peverini, Toronto

“This article is a bit of a joke.

The profiled couples include an orthodontist and a banker, a pair of physicians, and a hospital administrator and an engineer. They’re likely in the top five per cent of income earners. They left Toronto for different reasons, but affordability wasn’t truly one of them.”

—Shira Cherns, Port Credit

“Police officers, teachers, nurses and firefighters make close to $100k. If they can’t live in the major cities, what about the average chumps making $40 to $60k?”

—jayrock_was_changing, Reddit

The vast majority of readers, however, commiserated over the high price of housing and were sympathetic to the story’s subjects.

“Even people earning $100k can’t afford to live in Toronto anymore. The prices are out of reach for anyone who isn’t making $200k-plus in a dual-income family.”

—Zahne1977, Reddit

“Cops, teachers and nurses are giving up on Toronto. Imagine a city without all the key people who are essential to making it tick...this isn’t a possibility; it has become our reality.”

—@jen_keesmaat, Twitter

“It is unacceptable that some of the most active members of our society can barely afford to live. Those in these fields are the foundation of our society. Period.”

—rlzbth, Reddit

“Left in 2015 and have never looked back. I love my small-town community and don’t miss the city (born and raised) at all. It will always be there for me when I need a little fix. Nothing better than coming home to my big-ass backyard and peaceful life.”

—liaparsley, Instagram

“Getting outbid when you are bidding $75 to $100k over asking is why we left for Cambridge.”

—laurenschill, Instagram

“I was offered an interview in Toronto for a $200k job. I turned it down because factoring in the cost of housing and the commute, I would have been worse off, even though it was a significant raise over my current salary.”

—kickworks, Reddit “Isn’t your magazine called Toronto Life and not Bullshit From Innisfil?”