One milk, one sugar— up to five times per day, depending on how much Brittany Wesson needs to get done and if the coffee maker at the retirement home she works at is functioning.

Living in a townhouse off Strandherd Drive in old Barrhaven, Wesson has two kids under three, juggles a part-time nursing job and interns at a local church, while her husband commutes to Gatineau on weekdays for night shift duty.

Fifty thousand dollars a year of combined income seemed a decent amount, until Wesson crunched the numbers: more than $20,000 goes to her mortgage, rent and other utilities and expenses.

“It is emotionally taxing,” the twenty-five year old said, sipping coffee from a flower-patterned mug on her kitchen table. “It’s the gig straight for 13 days: barely seeing my kids, struggling to see them and actually being invested when I’m home with them.”

“I’m in this permanent state of tired,” she said.

The Keurig doesn’t sit far away.

Wesson and her family are among the spike of Ottawa households spending 30 per cent or more of their income on housing.

The percentage has risen most dramatically in certain parts of the suburbs like Kanata, Orleans and Barrhaven in the last five years, according to an analysis of data from Statistics Canada’s 2016 census report.

“It’s a crazy life for young families now—people stretch their income,” said Marianne Wilkinson, councilor to Kanata North, ward four. “It’s all west end, it’s growing much faster than the east end now.”

Taking the kids to art lessons, basketball and dance classes—all in one evening— turns parents into taxi drivers, Wilkinson explained, recalling conversations she’s had with members of the community.

With more residents in suburb communities, more people frequent the long commute to the office via OC Transpo instead of sitting in traffic and fuming gas, according to Wilkinson.

The average income for families living in Ontario was $81,450 in 2015, according to Statistics Canada.

“If you’re making 40,000 a year, 30 per cent that’s one thing,” said Wilkinson. “If you’re making 100,000 a year— that’s another thing.”

The census data for employment is expected to be released on November 29, and may help provide context to how much families are actually spending on housing.

“There’s a lot of jobs that would normally be downtown and are moving westerly,” said Dan Salhany, a local real estate agent with Hallmark who has been in the housing business since 1988.

There has been stronger momentum and higher consumer confidence in the marketplace in the last five years, and 2017 in particular has been a strong year for selling homes overall, Salhany noted.

“Of course, you can certainly dampen someone’s dream,” he said, regarding prospective homeowners’ expectations exceeding their budgets. “Your job is to keep them realistic and give them the facts. They have to decide from there.”

Ottawa housing, like other Canadian cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, is benefiting from foreign investors and is growing in number and price, according to Salhany and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

“I’ve cut back on a lot in my life,” said Wesson. “For me, it’s been realizing that I can’t go out for coffee with friends, I can’t go shopping, I can’t buy the kids new clothes … because we’ve had so many expenses.”

Wesson has learned the practicality of making ends meet, such as rationing gas usage, meal prepping and budgeting winter jackets for her kids.

“My parents have been a huge support,” she said, explaining her goal of creating her own safety net for her family. “They’ve bailed me out way too many times.”