Housing I - FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE

I know I have talked about housing in “where to stay” post, but it seems you guys need more details about housing in Ontario, as I got many requests to talk more about it. So as the subject is big, I will divide it to the following 5 parts:

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

So today I’m ganna start with FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE:

As I mentioned before, if you can, before you arrive, arrange a place to stay for your first few nights in Ontario. You can contact a travel agent anywhere in the world to find and reserve a place to stay.

When you are in Canada or the U.S., you can call Tourism Ontario at 1-800-ONTARIO (1-800-668-2746). Tourism Ontario can help you to find a room and make a reservation. This service is free.

You can stay temporarily in a hotel, bed-and-breakfast, apartment hotel, travel hostel or a student residence in a university or college. You can stay in travel hostels or student residences for days, weeks, or months for less money than a hotel. A bed-and-breakfast is a room in a house where the owner gives you breakfast every day.

However, from my own experience, staying in Studio6 for the first month was very convenient and great value-for-money. It was $1500 per month (you can rent it daily or weekly, but it would be more expensive), sully furnished, with cleaning once a week, wireless high-speed internet connection (if you have your laptop with you, and TV Cable.

If you arrive at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto without a place to stay, look for the Immigrant Reception and Information Services (IRIS) sign or phone 905-672-3660. They also have information about hotels and places to stay near the airport. The hotels near the airport are expensive, so you might want to find a hotel closer to the city.

Many homes in Ontario are expensive. Your first home may not be the one you want. You need time to learn about the rental and real estate markets, and different neighborhoods. Most newcomers do not find a job for many months. Keep this in mind when you decide how much you will spend on housing.

Most experts say you should not spend more than one-third (33.3%) of your total income before taxes on a place to live.


To be continued in "HOUSING OPTIONS"