I don't understand this part...
Quote:
Prior to 2011, some CHC homes were rented at market value to tenants regardless of income as a way of encouraging diversity and generating income to offset the cost of operating the subsidized units, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
“People paying market rent were subsidizing the non-market people. They were paying some of the freight,” he said.
However, a tightening rental supply in Calgary prompted CHC to tighten its eligibility requirements two years ago.
The company eliminated market-level rents and instead set its top rates to reflect the lower end of the private market — and imposed income thresholds as a qualifying requirement.
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This makes it sound like they set every unit's rent at the subsidized rate without requiring those previously unsubsidized people to show any need for the subsidy. If that's true, that's quite possibly one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
Quite frankly, if they moved in when they were paying market value and their landlords made the idiotic decision to lower their rent to the subsidized rate, I can't really fault them for continuing to live there under those conditions. That's on the CHC for implementing an absurd policy change.
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EDIT:
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Okay, so the Sun story on this has this quote:
Quote:
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Ald. Gael MacLeod, who sits on the board of CHC, said renters who make more than $170,000 are paying the market price and they help subsidize those who live in the housing complexes.
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http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/06/11...income-earners
Based on that, the people in question aren't being subsidized, so I don't see any reason for outrage.
Prior to 2011, the CHC's policy was to rent a small percentage of the units in these buildings to people who did not require a subsidy and they were charged full market value for their units, and their extra rent was used to offset the costs of subsidizing the other units.
For example: Rather than 100% of the units paying 75% of market value, you could have 20% of the units paying 100% of market value and the other 80% paying 70% of market value and you'd be bringing in approximately the same amount of money each month while giving the subsidized tenants lower rent than if the whole building was subsidized.
In 2011, because of the long waiting list for subsidized housing, the policy was changed to make all units in the buildings subsidized, but those previously unsubsidized tenants have valid grandfathered leases. As long as their units are still unsubsidized, I see nothing wrong with them choosing to stay. They moved into unsubsidized housing and still live in unsubsidized housing.