When Anthony Cristofari first moved to Ottawa in October of 2013, he initially bounced around apartments in various neighbourhoods in the downtown area. It took him a little over a year to settle into his current apartment in downtown Ottawa, just off of Elgin Street.

However, finally settling into an apartment did not mean he had housing stability. “Every month was a gamble,” he says of staying in Ottawa and making rent. The Windsor, Ont. native moved to Ottawa to be added to the supply teaching list, which meant working hours and income were unpredictable. “Even when I did work five days a week it was like pennies.”

At points Cristofari was spending at least a third of his income on rent and other housing costs such as hydro. For his neighbourhood this is not an uncommon occurrence. According to an analysis of the 2011 National Household Survey, the area around Elgin Street has the highest concentration of households in Ottawa who spend over a third of their income on housing.

The map above shows each neighbourhood in Ottawa. Click on an area to find the number of households that spend over a third of their income on housing. The darkest area is Cristofari’s neighbourhood around Eglin Street. The neighbourhood has slightly more than 1,300 households spending more than a third of income on housing, roughly 300 more than the next highest area. The 2011National Household Survey data was obtained through Statistics Canada open data website.

Spending over a third of income on housing can take away spending on other important aspects such as food, health and recreation. It can also put pressure on transportation costs which is also a significant part of Cristofari’s costs. Supply teaching required him to work in various parts of the city, so he heavily relied on his car. “Honestly I can’t imagine doing my job in particular without having a car.”

However in his neighbourhood, because amenities like groceries are close he says he only needs it for work, which has cut down on his gas consumption. “Thankfully when I am home I barely drive around because everything is so close.”

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation defines housing affordability as spending less than a third of income on housing and associated costs. Jonathan Rotondo the senior media relations officer of CMHC says the measure is less than perfect. “A household could spend more than this out of choice,” he said in an emailed response.

However Rotondo says that the benchmark is useful in order to measure affordability for households with limited alternatives, such as Cristofari. Rotondo says the benchmark is a generally accepted threshold across government departments in Canada. “I even used it when budgeting for my own house,” he says.

Cristofari considered moving to other areas such as Barrhaven for cheaper rent, but given that he was new to the city he wanted to be close to a social setting. “It’s not worth it when you’re new to a city.”

It is not a surprise to Cristofari that his neighbourhood has the highest concentration of households breaking the threshold for affordable housing. He says that it seems like a “perfect in between spot,” for young professionals who are just starting careers and rely on rent for housing costs.

Statistics Canada data supports Cristofari’s assumption. Analysis of the National Household Survey points out that the highest bracket that breaks the 30 per cent threshold is comprised of non-family households that rent rather than own homes.

Cristofari thinks he will find himself out of this bracket during the next survey. He recently was accepted for a long-term teaching positon in Kanata, “It’s only been a couple weeks but it’s starting to level out, it’s not as crazy to live here.” He says that if things continue as they are he may even buy a house in a few years, just perhaps not near Elgin Street.