Time To Oust The Tories: Rent Control Not Coming

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by The Unabomber

Quite the ignorant comment Fotze.

It's not always about goals and aspirations that lead a person to make a decision as to weather they own a home or rent a home. Lots of different cicumstances are involved in where someone might end up, that might be the fact that someone died like the husband and father and he was the only one bringing in money as the wife is at home looking after the kids.

Call me a jerk, but chances are that person probably had a chance to buy life insurance or something like that to make sure his/her family was taken care of in case of that. Is it the land lords fault that the family didn't consider this scenario and have things in place? I mean I'm sorry, but at some point in time people have to be held accountable for the descisions they make. If I decide to have children I will make sure that if I pass away things be be set up so that my wife and kids don't have to take to the streets. If the father passes away the better answer might be to ensure surviving families receive at least the full insured EI earnings of the deceased wage earner unitl all dependant children attributed to that person reach the age of 18.

It also works the other way too, when my father passed away in July, my mom is left with a second house that needs repairs etc and to collect rent. Yet when the tenant runs rampant and is months behind on rent theres next to nothing she can do except up the rent to try and squeeze him out. Yet you paint that picture and most people think the rent increaser is some rich old heartless broad, and the tenant is another poor old guy struggling with the cost of living.

[Kjesse]

I think the point has been made adequately enough that rent controls will actually exacerbate the housing problem. Artificially keeping the price low ultimately means more condo conversions and fewer new rental units. And the cost of administering rent controls would just result in yet another government bureaucracy.

I suppose there will always be an element of society that wants government to fix the problems. My view is the government is always dumber than the free market and they should just let things be. Government doesn't fix things-- they usually make things worse whenever they get involved in private enterprise. Over time the market will work out the issues.

If you're one of the ones facing such high rent that its preventing you from saving up a downpayment, that sucks, but that is not a reason to have government jump in and tell a landlord how much they can charge you to live in their house. In every type of economy there are winners and losers. This economy benefits landlords at the moment. Things will change. In the meantime, those on the bottom of the heap need to try to find a way to help themselves out of their current situation-- and that probably means some hard choices.

Someone mentioned gas prices.... I hope they go higher yet, its time people stopped treating gas like its some cheap resource. Prices need to climb so society will be forced to look at alternatives. All these massive vehicles on the road are so inefficient.

[The Unabomber]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Call me a jerk, but chances are that person probably had a chance to buy life insurance or something like that to make sure his/her family was taken care of in case of that. Is it the land lords fault that the family didn't consider this scenario and have things in place? I mean I'm sorry, but at some point in time people have to be held accountable for the descisions they make. If I decide to have children I will make sure that if I pass away things be be set up so that my wife and kids don't have to take to the streets. If the father passes away the better answer might be to ensure surviving families receive at least the full insured EI earnings of the deceased wage earner unitl all dependant children attributed to that person reach the age of 18.

It also works the other way too, when my father passed away in July, my mom is left with a second house that needs repairs etc and to collect rent. Yet when the tenant runs rampant and is months behind on rent theres next to nothing she can do except up the rent to try and squeeze him out. Yet you paint that picture and most people think the rent increaser is some rich old heartless broad, and the tenant is another poor old guy struggling with the cost of living.

It can work many different ways, i just hate when people (like Fotze) figure that because he "set his goals and aspirations" that others simply screwed up and have nobody to blame but themselves.

I find it pretty interesting that people bring up the fact that renters are scum and can get away with anything but why not point out some of the brutal landlords in this city that don't fix any problems in the rental units yet they can get away with it because the vacancy rate is 0.00000000000001%.

[Phaneuf3]

ok - so you control rent.... then what happens? a landlord makes less profit and invests less money back into new property. so now you've got affordable rent but nobody can find a place to live. damned if you do, damned if you don't.

the difference is: if you don't do anything, the problem WILL correct itself over time as the market corrects itself and stabalizes. if rent is capped all you're doing is creating a larger housing shortage, especially in the rental market.

[Resolute 14]

So we should oust the Tories for believing in a free market rather than socialist controls, eh? Shocking that the Conservatives wouldnt go for that.

Funny thing. Replace "rent" with "oil" and you have the NEP...

[blankall]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Actually I think it is part of it, particularily in the low income brackets.

Unaffordable housing means that Maritimer isn't going to come here to take a job at the local Earls restaraunt, when that kind of Salary can barely afford to cover your cost of living.

Those low end jobs aren't seeing even close to the returns that would cover the increased cost of living in this city.

Having worked at an Earls for a few years ago in the summer time, probably 30-40% is from out of town.

The salaries for most jobs in calgary are more than enough to afford rent at even the inflated prices. I'm not sure about Earls in particular (having worked there and knowing what cheap s they are), but fast food restaurants are paying 11-12 dollars an hour to start. Assuming they regularly would have been payed only 8 this translates into at least an extra 400 dollars a month that people could put towards increased rental prices. As for labourers like construction types, they are getting even more.

In my opinion, the labour shortages in Calgary are caused by Ottawa and Liberal governments funeling Canadian money into Toronto through "Canadian" institutions and programs. Transfer payments also dont help. Why come get a job in Calgary when you can collect welfare in another part of Canada?

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

So we should oust the Tories for believing in a free market rather than socialist controls, eh? Shocking that the Conservatives wouldnt go for that.

Funny thing. Replace "rent" with "oil" and you have the NEP...

THE NEP?!
*rabble rabble rabble rabble*

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Anyone know if the government has considered subsidizing rent for low-income families?

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Rent control is a band aid fix that long-term destroys markets and helps no one. Even as someone who is a renter, I'm glad that we won't be having rent controls.

The city could solve a lot of the problems by relaxing a lot of the laws and restrictions around rental basement suites.

It that not a band-aid solution? Or are you suggesting it be a permanent relaxation?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

But ultimately you may have to make a choice of whether or not you can afford to live in Calgary. I know I will be having to arrive at that decision point soon and gradually I've been coming to the conclusion that to be a homeowner - I will have to leave Calgary. So be it.

The problem is alot of low income workers are coming to that conclusion. The fall out is already seen in the fast food industry and retail jobs in general. They can't find enough workers to staff their business. Then there's heath care workers who can work in other provinces where housing is cheaper.

As for me I came to the conclusion a few years back that I could no longer afford to live in Calgary so I moved out to High River. The problem now is that High River is starting to get expensive housing wise.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by blankall

The salaries for most jobs in calgary are more than enough to afford rent at even the inflated prices. I'm not sure about Earls in particular (having worked there and knowing what cheap s they are), but fast food restaurants are paying 11-12 dollars an hour to start. Assuming they regularly would have been payed only 8 this translates into at least an extra 400 dollars a month that people could put towards increased rental prices.

Right, but the thing is everyone is wanting a piece out of the boom. Not just landlords, and that pay increase isn't only covering the rising cost of rent. My point is, on a lower income Salary, you have less purchasing power than you did 5 years ago.

Not sure about which fast food places you are talking about either. I know the BK on Macleod is screaming for staff, including being closed on weekdays, but won't throw out any number higher than 10$ an hour on their signs.

Of course, other jobs, such as anyone in the public sector haven't seen their salaries increase even a fraction of what the cost of inflation currently is.

We're going to be seeing quite a few less EMS, Police, Fire and other essential services, unless they start getting compensated more.

[urban1]

Man, a lot of misinformation in this thread as well as people with funny ideas.

Calgary can be a nice place to live but no one is going to move to Calgary to work at Burger King. Maybe immigrants from a 3rd world country but someone from Saskatchewan isnt going to move to Calgary to work at BK no matter what level rents are at.

The vacancy rate is near 0% in Calgary. Whats rent control going to do? Its not going to increase the number of available units. Rent control has been shown to do the opposite and in fact lower the number of available rental units.

High housing costs (both rental prices and home purchase prices) have the impact of forcings residents to spend more of their incomes on housing. This reduces the money you have available for other things including savings and discretionary spending and this can have an impact on your quality of life.

Things have gotten out of whack in this city. Too much growth too quick and things have gotten out of perspective. Theres always going to be people at the low end of the wage spectrum and these people need somewhere live. Every city has issues with affordable housing and Calgary like all these other cities needs to work to address it.

[BlackArcher101]

I don't think rent control is, or was, the solution. However, I'm not sure the problem is rental prices. Frankly I don't think companies are able to keep the salaries/wages on par with this massive cost of living increase. I know quite a few people who's rent is increasing at a rate faster than their income. I don't find the rent I'm paying that far off. However, I know of some where a 2 bedroom, very small apartment is increasing to $1500 from $1000. Disgusting.

Some people say "If you think rent is high, then just buy a house". Sadly I wish it was that easy. These days you MUST partner up to buy a house, unless you are one of the lucky few who's wage stayed parallel to costs.

Frankly, I don't know how this mess will be fixed, or if it ever will be. Material and constructions costs are too high, so companies are having a hard time profiting and new housing projects are expensive. On top of that the average income isn't keeping up to costs, and now landlords are converting rental units into condo's, further diluting rental markets and increasing costs due to demand. No matter what happens, the next 5 years will be interesting for sure.

As a person just starting their career, my future doesn't look too good at the moment considering my plan 2 years ago was to buy a house within 3 years. Each day that goes by, I see the chance of that happening dwindle.

[SpitFire40]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

And?
Is this not the basis of how the free market works?

So, it still sucks.. I'm born and raised here and this so called "Free Market" may end up driving me out of my city by people from Toronto with money up the ass buying cheap ass apartments turned condo's for $300,000 a pop like it's nothing.

I know that's how the market works, but I don't have to like it.

[photon]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Frankly, I don't know how this mess will be fixed, or if it ever will be. Material and constructions costs are too high, so companies are having a hard time profiting and new housing projects are expensive. On top of that the average income isn't keeping up to costs, and now landlords are converting rental units into condo's, further diluting rental markets and increasing costs due to demand. No matter what happens, the next 5 years will be interesting for sure.

There are many places that have much much higher real estate costs relative to income than Calgary, even in Canada (Vancouver is still ahead). And we're starting to see some of the things that have happened there to compensate happen here. 35 and 40 year mortgages (and eventually possibly longer) are one example.

[photon]

Originally Posted by urban1

High housing costs (both rental prices and home purchase prices) have the impact of forcings residents to spend more of their incomes on housing. This reduces the money you have available for other things including savings and discretionary spending and this can have an impact on your quality of life.

True, but in Alberta consumer spending hasn't been impacted, so people still have confidence in the economy and are willing to spend.

Things have gotten out of whack in this city. Too much growth too quick and things have gotten out of perspective. Theres always going to be people at the low end of the wage spectrum and these people need somewhere live. Every city has issues with affordable housing and Calgary like all these other cities needs to work to address it.

Yup, just look at the things Vancouver has tried. Affordable housing is a nice idea, but no one wants it in their back yard. And then when it gets built, you end up with a slum that drives down property values all around. It's not an easy problem to fix by any means.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by urban1

Man, a lot of misinformation in this thread as well as people with funny ideas.

Calgary can be a nice place to live but no one is going to move to Calgary to work at Burger King. Maybe immigrants from a 3rd world country but someone from Saskatchewan isnt going to move to Calgary to work at BK no matter what level rents are at.

The vacancy rate is near 0% in Calgary. Whats rent control going to do? Its not going to increase the number of available units. Rent control has been shown to do the opposite and in fact lower the number of available rental units.

High housing costs (both rental prices and home purchase prices) have the impact of forcings residents to spend more of their incomes on housing. This reduces the money you have available for other things including savings and discretionary spending and this can have an impact on your quality of life.

Things have gotten out of whack in this city. Too much growth too quick and things have gotten out of perspective. Theres always going to be people at the low end of the wage spectrum and these people need somewhere live. Every city has issues with affordable housing and Calgary like all these other cities needs to work to address it.

The big thing isnt the shortage in workers in Dairy Queen that is causing the trouble. The shortage in labourers and tradesmen is the problem. Canada has more than enough of these to supply Calgary's needs, and many of them live in much crappier places than Calgary, but are given false incentives to stay there. Yes I realize picking up your family and moving is a big thing, but the amount of young people in Canada willing to move for a decent job is surprisingly high.

I agree inflation is a problem, but the salaries have increased more than enough to compensate. Try going to Vancouver or Toronto and see how far a dollar gets you.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

It that not a band-aid solution? Or are you suggesting it be a permanent relaxation?

No reason not to make it permanent.

[Superflyer]

Something that may help is to have the govenment start to build appartment buildings. THen they can rent them out to low income people. When is the last time that you saw an appartment building being built? THere are lots of houses being built but that helps one family. For the space of 3 or 4 houses you can build about 30 or 40 appartments.
I know this may not be beneficial for private sector but the government could do it.

[Dion]

Saw an interesting concept in Canmore last summer. It seems the local McDonalds owns a small apartment building downtown. They use it as housing for their employees. Maybe this could be the solution for businesses in Calgary that can't find staff.