Mortgages for Ontario personal support workers

Q: Can a PSW with two employers get a mortgage?

Yes, and it is common. Each employer needs its own employment letter and pay stubs, and the combined total needs to reconcile against your T4s. The work is in the presentation, not in whether it qualifies.

Q: Do casual PSW hours count as income?

Usually yes, averaged over two years from your T4s. Consistency matters more than any single strong stretch, and a documented reason for a dip, such as a leave, keeps it from being read as instability.

Ontario PSWs are usually covered by a CUPE or SEIU Healthcare agreement at the hospital, long-term care home or home care agency that employs them. The mortgage problem is rarely the hourly rate: it is that the hours often come from two or three employers at once, and a lender has to be shown how to add them up.

Who bargains this job

PSWs in hospitals, long-term care and home care are usually CUPE or SEIU Healthcare, under an agreement bargained at each employer. Rates differ between a hospital, a long-term care home and a home care agency for the same work.

We have not published a pay grid for this role yet, so there is no figure on this page. We will not print a number we have not read in the agreement itself. Tell us where you work and we will read that agreement next.

What a personal support worker wage buys

Personal support workers income

Down payment$100,000

You could buy up to$459,000$1,975 a month

An estimate, not an approval. Send it over and we will confirm it against your own stubs.

Ask Jeff and Emily

How your pay lands on a mortgage file

Two or three employers is the norm, not a problem

A lot of PSWs hold lines at more than one employer to make full-time hours. That is not a barrier, but it has to be presented properly: each employer needs its own letter and its own stubs, and the T4s have to reconcile to the total. Presented as one number with no backup, it gets discounted.

Casual hours need two years to count fully

Where hours are casual rather than a guaranteed line, most lenders average two years from T4s. A strong recent year gets pulled down by a weaker earlier one, so the timing of an application matters more here than in almost any other health role.

A permanent part-time line changes the file

A guaranteed minimum commitment in the agreement lets some lenders treat those hours much closer to salaried income. If you are close to moving from casual into a permanent line, that move can be worth more to your approval than anything else you could do.

Percentage in lieu of benefits is income

Part-time staff who receive a percentage in lieu are receiving contractual compensation. It belongs on the application with the article that defines it, not left off because it looks like an extra.