Sabina Abilova and Andrii Koziura sit at the dinner table in their basement apartment, laptops open, looking for jobs that could help them pay next month’s rent. The Ukrainian newcomers arrived in Toronto just a few weeks ago, trying to escape the conflict in their country, and they’ve spent their savings as they face the high cost of living in the city. “The prices here are quite high,” Abilova, 28, says in an interview. “If we don’t get a job, we won’t be able to stay here for long.” Housing costs are proving to be one of the top issues for Ukrainian newcomers arriving under a special federal program announced in March that allows them to work or study in Canada for three years. Abilova and Koziura were vacationing in Argentina when Russia began invading Ukraine in February. The couple decided to apply to come to Canada after Abilova’s sister was already living in Toronto, having arrived as a student eight years ago. Getting approved under the program was relatively easy, but getting information and support on issues like housing, public transportation and employment was difficult, Abilova says. “In Ukraine, we had a very good, normal life and now we have to go and find help everywhere, ask for help, discounts and everything and it’s not a good situation,” he says. “It’s hard because I didn’t expect Canada to be like this.” Abilova and Koziura now live in a two-bedroom basement apartment in west Toronto with Abilova’s mother and her 13-year-old brother, who already had visitor visas for Canada before the war began. They pay $2,000 a month in rent and currently rely on savings to pay their expenses, Koziura says. The couple has applied for a monthly social support payment of $600 from the Ontario government and a one-time payment of $3,000 from the federal government while they look for work, he says. Koziura, 27, says he used to work as a software product manager in Ukraine and hopes to find work in his field. “Our original plan was to come here, stay here for a few months and decide where to live, how easy it is to stay in Canada, and we haven’t been able to find a job yet,” he says. “The situation with the war is quite difficult. We don’t know when it ends. And we don’t know what our long-term plans are. Are we going to get citizenship here… are we going to come home?” Ihor Michalchyshyn, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, says housing is the number one challenge facing newly arrived Ukrainians, especially in Ontario. Federally funded refugee settlement agencies are technically not allowed to help newly arrived Ukrainians with housing because those who arrive under the special program are not recognized as refugees, he says. “They don’t have access to the same, say, full suites or full services that a refugee from anywhere would have,” he says. “We could call them refugees, (but) they are not technically, legally in the eyes of government-funded agencies, refugees.” His organization and the Ontario Council of Services Serving Immigrants wrote to federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser last month urging him to allow settlement agencies to use federal funds to support the housing costs of Ukrainian newcomers. Michalchyshyn says his organization also pushed for income support for newly arrived Ukrainians. A Fraser spokeswoman says the federal government has a program that provides Ukrainian newcomers with one-time financial assistance of $3,000 per adult and $1,500 per child. “These funds will help Ukrainian nationals and their family members meet their basic needs – such as transportation and long-term housing – as they arrive in communities across Canada and find work,” Aidan Strickland wrote in a statement. “We recognize that major urban centers across Canada are currently experiencing difficulties in securing temporary accommodation this summer, as well as housing challenges in terms of both affordability and availability.” Janet Dench, the executive director of the Canadian Refugee Council says the special program for Ukrainians has the advantage of being open to an unlimited number of people, but it doesn’t come with the support that government-sponsored refugees usually get. “From a policy point of view, it has the advantages of being really fast and open,” she says in an interview. “(Ukrainians) might be like, ‘okay, fine, we’ll come to Canada and we’ll be able to take care of all our needs,’ but they weren’t necessarily informed or didn’t realize that all they were getting was a work permit and a visitor’s visa. They don’t get a whole support system.” Michalchyshyn, of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, says the housing situation for newly arrived Ukrainians is more difficult in Ontario than in other provinces. The average monthly rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto was $2,133 in June, according to data from Rentals.ca, compared with $1,538 in Montreal and $1,669 in Halifax. “Probably more than 60 percent of (Ukrainian) people in Canada arrive in Toronto, the GTA and then … struggle to find housing of any kind,” he says. Ukrainian community groups, including churches and community agencies and organizations, are scrambling to find host families, empty apartments and emergency shelter sites, he says. “There’s just very high demand and very low availability,” he says. Ontario Labor Minister Monte McNaughton, who is responsible for immigration, says his department is working with other government departments and municipalities to support these Ukrainians. “Sure, it’s a challenge,” he says in an interview. “We are working with our municipal partners … to identify the housing inventory so that these people have a safe haven and a safe place here in Ontario.” According to the federal government, 55,488 Ukrainians arrived in Canada from January 1 to June 26. The government says it received 343,283 applications under the new program for Ukrainians between March 17 and June 28, and 146,461 were approved. – with files from Holly McKenzie-Sutter. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 10, 2022.
