Mortgages for Ontario social workers

Q: Is a social worker on a contract able to get a mortgage?

Often yes. What matters is the renewal history and whether the funding is ongoing, not the word contract. Several consecutive renewals in the same role, with a letter that says the position is expected to continue, is a strong file.

Q: Which union covers hospital social workers in Ontario?

Usually OPSEU, in the hospital professional or paramedical unit, under a schedule bargained at that hospital. Some hospitals use CUPE or Unifor for the same unit.

Hospital social workers in Ontario sit in the professional or paramedical bargaining unit, most often OPSEU, on a schedule bargained at each hospital. In community agencies it is more often CUPE or OPSEU under that agency’s own agreement, and the difference changes both the pay scale and how steady a lender considers the income.

Who bargains this job

Hospital social workers are usually in the OPSEU professional unit. Community and children’s aid roles are usually CUPE or OPSEU at that agency. Each employer bargains its own schedule, so there is no single provincial grid.

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 social worker wage buys

Social 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

Hospital and community are different files

A hospital position sits on a published classification schedule with steps, which is straightforward to evidence. A community agency role is often funded by a transfer payment and may be term-funded, which changes which lenders will treat it as permanent employment.

Contract renewals are the thing to document

Where a position is grant funded and renewed annually, the history of renewals is what carries the file. Several consecutive renewals in the same role reads very differently from a first-year contract.

Your MSW usually sits at a different step

Most schedules place a master’s-prepared social worker on a higher classification or a different step than a BSW. If your application was built off a generic salary figure rather than your actual step, the number is probably low.

On-call and after-hours work is contractual

Crisis and after-hours coverage carries its own rate in most agreements. It is regular income for many social workers and it is routinely left off applications.