"...rent should account for no more than 30 per cent of gross pay, it now eats up 46 per cent of Ms. Yeo's income. " Ms. Yeo must have a high paying job to be able to pay only 46% of her income on rent. For low income earners or the precariously employed like myself the rent to gross pay ratio ranges between 50%-75%.  I've been in my current place for four years and if I were forced to move I would be unable to afford to rent at today's rents.