Ontario mayor who lives with her parents says she can't afford to buy a home in her municipality

Natasha Salonen, 28, is the mayor of Wilmot Township

SOURCE FROM: National Post Staff, Published Aug 14, 2023

Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen says she's priced out of buying a home in her community. PHOTO BY WILMOT TOWNSHIP TWITTER

Wilmot Township Mayor Natasha Salonen is sounding the alarm about housing affordability in the Waterloo Region.

The 28-year-old became the first woman to be elected mayor of Wilmot in October 2022 and earns around $90,000 a year. In addition to her role as mayor, she’s also a regional councillor and works with a local electric utility. “I do live at home with my parents,” Salonen told CTV Kitchener. “Living in this region is really not attainable for a young professional who has university debt and I know I’m certainly not alone in that.” According to the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors, the average home in Wilmot, which has a population of about 20,000, sold for $916,167 last month. In an interview with NewsTalk 1010, Salonen said the region is seeing “thriving economic development” but young professionals can’t access the housing market both locally and in other regions across Canada.

She stressed the need for a national-level discussion to address housing affordability in Canada.

“A really big thing for me is we need to stop blaming different levels of government and individuals and generations and come up with concrete solutions because it’s not going away any time soon,” said Salonen. A former Tory, Salonen previously worked for former MP Harold Albrecht as well as MPP Mike Harris and with Lisa Thompson, the Ontario minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs.

She also cited a 2022 report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that found the average house price nationally was $811,700 at the end of 2021, a 97 per cent increase compared to January 2015.

She said she’s not speaking out in response to the Ontario auditor general’s report on Greenbelt development but to highlight the need for a national strategy around housing.

“To me, the Greenbelt discussions that have been all over the news really just further puts on the point that we need a national strategy at the top level to discuss how we’re going to address this issue,” she said.